BV  1090  . M67  1923 
Mott,  John  Raleigh,  1865- 
Confronting  young  men  with 
the  living  Christ 


I 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/confrontingyoung00mott_1 


CONFRONTING 
YOUNG  MEN  WITH  THE 
LIVING  CHRIST 


Confronting 
Young  Men  with  the 
Living  Christ 


ASSOCIATION  PRESS 

New  York:  347  Madison  Ave. 
1923 


Copyrighted,  1923,  by 
The  International  Committee  of 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Associations 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


To  the  Memory 
of 

Sir  George  Williams  of  England 
Dwight  L.  Moody  of  the  United  States 
Henry  Drummond  of  Scotland 
Archbishop  Nicolai  of  Japan 

TO  ALL  OF  WHOM  I  AM  INDEBTED  FOR  MUCH  HELP 
TOWARD  A  LARGER  REALIZATION  OF 

the  Living  Christ 


FOREWORD 


During  the  recent  winter  and  early  spring, 
I  was  privileged  to  spend  four  months  in  a 
continent-wide  tour  among  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Associations  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada.  This  involved  holding  retreats 
in  thirty-four  American  states  and  Canadian 
provinces,  attended  by  laymen  and  secretaries 
from  the  Associations  of  these  areas.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  these  intimate,  representative  gather¬ 
ings  for  corporate  thought  and  intercession,  I 
visited  a  chain  of  leading  cities  and  universi¬ 
ties  giving  addresses  to  audiences  of  outstand¬ 
ing  laymen,  of  clergymen,  of  students,  and  of 
young  men  and  boys.  These  visits  constitute 
a  part  of  a  larger  plan  in  which  leaders  of  the 
Association  have  united  to  re-emphasize  the 
religious  objective  of  the  Movement.  In 
response  to  requests  from  every  state  and 
province,  it  has  been  decided  to  print  those 
addresses  for  which  there  has  been  most  fre¬ 
quent  demand.  They  are  presented  as  nearly 

[7] 


FOREWORD 


as  possible  as  they  were  delivered,  preserving, 
therefore,  the  form  of  direct  address. 

The  great  social  task  of  Christianity,  to 
which  I  have  made  many  incidental  references, 
has  been  ever  present  to  my  mind ;  but  on  the 
occasions  of  the  delivery  of  these  addresses, 
the  chief  concern  was  to  bring  home  in  an  inti¬ 
mate  way  the  vital  relationship  to  the  Lord  of 
Life — the  Source  alike  of  all  social  achieve¬ 
ment  and  of  the  highest  individual  attainment. 

John  It.  Mott. 

May  5 ,  1923. 


[8] 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I  The  Call  to  Confront  Men  with  the 
Living  Christ . 

II  The  Present  International  Situation 
and  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Asso¬ 
ciation  . 

III  How  to  Increase  the  Spiritual  Vital¬ 

ity  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association . 

IV  The  Conflict  of  the  Christian  Worker 

V  What  Has  Happened  to  the  Faith  of 
Young  Men  Throughout  the  World 
in  the  Past  Few  Years?  . 

VI  Why  an  Increasing  Number  of  Young 
Men  Throughout  the  World  Believe 
in  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  .... 

VII  Our  Greatest  Need — A  Fresh  Accession 
of  Vital  Necessity — An  Easter  Mes¬ 
sage  . 

VIII  How  to  Augment  the  Leadership  of  the 
Christian  Forces . 


PACJB 

11 

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127 

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173 

183 


I 

THE  CALL  TO 
CONFRONT  MEN  WITH 
THE  LIVING  CHRIST 


I 


The  Call  to  Confront  Men  with  the 

Living  Christ 

A  few  months  ago,  while  on  the  ocean,  I 
tried  to  define  the  purpose  of  the  continent¬ 
wide  undertaking  in  which  we  have  united  in 
order  to  place  emphasis  on  the  religious  side  of 
the  work  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Asso¬ 
ciation,  and  these  words  seemed  to  express  it: 
To  increase  the  spiritual  vitality  and  fruit¬ 
fulness  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  As¬ 
sociations  of  North  America  through  con¬ 
fronting  young  men  and  boys  with  the  Living 
Christ.  Was  it  not  for  this  purpose  and  for 
none  other  that  the  Association  was  called  into 
being  by  the  creative  and  life-giving  Christ? 
It  was  my  privilege  to  have  more  than  a  score 
of  conversations  with  George  Williams,  the 
founder  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Asso¬ 
ciation.  I  think  I  could  recall  all  these  inter¬ 
views,  but  the  two  which  stand  out  most 
distinctly  in  memory  are  the  first  and  the  last. 

[13] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


The  first  of  these  visits  took  place  in  the  little 
room,  dear  to  so  many  Association  men,  where 
the  first  Association  was  organized — the  room 
in  that  great  commercial  establishment  by  St. 
Paul’s  Churchyard,  in  London,  the  metropo¬ 
lis  of  the  world.  As  that  never-to-be- 
forgotten  hour  drew  toward  a  close  I  ventured 
to  ask  this  question:  “Mr.  Williams,  what  was 
in  your  mind  and  in  the  minds  of  your  col¬ 
leagues  which  led  you  to  form  the  first  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association?”  Quickly  he  re¬ 
plied,  “We  had  only  one  thing  in  mind  and 
that  was  to  bind  our  little  company  together 
in  order  that  we  might  the  better  lead  our 
comrades  to  Christ,  and  in  order  that  we  might 
share  with  one  another  our  personal  experi¬ 
ence  of  Christ.” 

If  the  one  through  whom  God  gave  the  ini¬ 
tial  impulse  from  which  has  come  our  world¬ 
wide  Brotherhood  and  fellowship,  had  but  one 
idea  and  this  the  most  germinating  and  expan¬ 
sive  idea,  is  it  not  supremely  important  that 
we  leaders  and  members  of  the  Association  in 
this  day  of  even  greater  need  and  opportunity 
re-examine  our  lives,  plans,  and  practices  as 
to  whether  or  not  we  have  wandered  from  the 
vital  pathway? 

[14]] 


THE  CALL 


The  last  of  these  many  conversations  took 
place  in  the  city  of  Paris.  We  were  there  at¬ 
tending  a  meeting  of  the  World’s  Committee 
of  Young  Men’s  Christian  Associations.  By 
that  time  Sir  George,  as  he  was  then  called, 
had  become  a  very  old  man  and  was  so  frail 
that  he  had  to  be  supported.  At  times  his 
mind  wandered,  then  it  would  become  clear 
again.  In  one  of  his  lucid  moments  he  sud¬ 
denly  broke  out  with  this  question:  “Mr. 
Mott,  are  you  ever  alone  with  a  man  that  you 
do  not  talk  with  him  about  Jesus  Christ?” 

That  question  went  like  an  arrow  to  its 
mark — an  arrow  of  conviction  of  the  sin  of 
omission.  I  had  to  admit  that  many  a  time  I 
had  been  thrown  alone  with  a  man,  or  with 
a  group  of  men,  when  with  entire  propriety 
I  could  have  determined  the  subject  of  con¬ 
versation,  but  did  not  direct  it  to  our  Lord 
and  His  Kingdom. 

Again  I  ask,  if  Christ  was  thus  central  in 
the  life  of  our  founder  through  whom  God 
spoke  the  creative  word,  calling  into  being  this 
society  which  has  already  brought  inestimable 
blessings  to  countless  men,  shall  we  not  with 
the  greatest  conscientiousness  seek  to  make 
sure  that  He  is  also  the  center  of  our  lives? 

[15] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


If  I  might  share  with  you  my  dearest  wish  it 
is  that  by  the  time  I  come  to  my  old  age  I 
may  have  so  brought  all  thoughts  into  obedi¬ 
ence  to  His  marvellous  captivity,  that  when¬ 
ever  my  mind  comes  out  of  unconsciousness 
into  consciousness  it  will  revert  naturally  and 
inevitably  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Along  the  pathway  of  the  realization  of  this 
vital  objective,  the  confronting  of  men  and 
boys  with  the  Living  Christ,  has  come  the 
largest  and  most  enduring  fruit  of  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association.  Ex¬ 
pressed  otherwise,  it  may  be  stated  with  confi¬ 
dence  that  this  has  been  the  secret  of  the 
Association’s  most  far-reaching,  most  deeply 
penetrating,  and  most  transforming  influence 
in  the  life  of  men  and  of  nations. 

Mine,  as  you  know,  has  been  a  traveling  life. 
It  has  taken  me  first  and  last  to  possibly  fifty 
different  countries,  to  virtually  every  one 
where  the  Association  is  planted,  and  to  most 
of  them  again  and  again.  There  is  a  certain 
advantage  in  having  the  opportunity  to  pass 
from  land  to  land  and  to  revisit  at  intervals 
the  same  fields.  It  enables  one  to  observe  con¬ 
trasts  and  to  trace  tendencies.  With  this  as 
a  background  let  me  ask  one  or  two  questions. 

[16] 


THE  CALL 


,Why  is  it  that  when  I  visit  one  country  the 
Association  reminds  me  of  nature  in  spring¬ 
time,  with  life  bursting  from  the  ground ; 
whereas  in  another  country,  possibly  an  ad¬ 
joining  one,  I  receive  no  such  impression  of 
vitality?  It  may  be  that  in  the  latter  case 
the  Association  has  larger  numbers,  greater 
financial  resources,  and  a  more  elaborate  or¬ 
ganization,  but  it  is  not  yielding  so  great  a 
spiritual  fruitage.  What  is  the  explanation? 
In  the  former  case,  the  leaders,  both  secretaries 
and  laymen,  are  by  design  seeking  to  fix  the 
attention  of  men  and  boys  upon  Christ  Him¬ 
self  and  to  influence  them  to  follow  Him;  in 
the  latter  case  the  leaders  have  lost  their  per¬ 
spective  and  have  become  absorbed  with  means 
rather  than  with  the  vital  end. 

Why  is  if  that  now  and  then  when  I  visit  an 
Association  in  this  country  possessing,  it  may 
be,  a  splendid  building  and  having  an  elabo¬ 
rate  organization  which  reminds  one  of 
countless  wheels  within  wheels  and  which  is 
characterized  by  much  feverish  activity,  I  note 
nevertheless  that  it  is  not  producing  profound 
and  permanent  spiritual  changes  in  men  or 
in  the  community;  and  yet  when  I  return  to 
that  same  Association  five  or  seven  years 

[17] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


later  I  receive  the  unmistakable  impres¬ 
sion  that  the  place  is  fairly  pulsating  with 
unselfishness,  and  I  discover  that  in  every 
department  of  the  Association’s  work — physi¬ 
cal,  intellectual,  social,  economic — the  multi¬ 
plying  contacts  with  men  are  being  utilized 
by  definite  plan  of  friendly  ministry  to  relate 
an  increasing  number  of  men  to  Christ  and  to 
enlist  them  in  applying  His  program  to  areas 
of  social  injustice  and  neglect  in  the  com¬ 
munity? 

Need  I  state  that  in  the  case  of  the  earlier 
visit  I  found  that  the  leaders  were  being  mas¬ 
tered  by  their  conditions  rather  than  resolutely 
applying  the  great,  guiding,  central,  pro¬ 
nouncedly  spiritual  principles  to  the  Associa¬ 
tion  activities ;  whereas  at  the  time  of  the  later 
visit  they  were  holding  this  vital  objective  con¬ 
stantly  in  its  dominating  place  in  all  their 
thinking,  planning,  and  action?  Do  we  not, 
therefore,  hear  the  call  of  God  summoning  us 
to  confront  men  and  boys  today  with  the  living 
Christ  not  only  as  we  reflect  on  the  first  chap¬ 
ter  of  the  history  of  our  organization,  but  also 
as  we  turn  over  in  our  minds  the  experiences, 
favorable  and  unfavorable,  of  the  subsequent 
years? 


[18] 


THE  CALL 


Let  me  now  direct  your  attention  to  the 
needs  of  the  young  men  and  boys  of  this  gen¬ 
eration,  for  I  am  persuaded  that  as  we  dwell 
on  these  we  shall  hear  the  same  call.  Think 
of  the  young  men  and  boys  whom  you  could 
call  by  name  who  are  living  worldly,  selfish, 
and  proud  lives.  Think  also  of  those  within 
the  range  of  your  acquaintance  who  are  living 
indifferent,  inert,  unresponsive  lives  so  far  as 
Christ  is  concerned.  Think  again  of  those  who 
are  living  narrow,  contracted,  withered,  shriv¬ 
elled  lives.  Recall  to  memory  the  names  of 
those  whom  you  well  know  who  are  living 
lonely,  sorrowing,  hungry,  thirsty,  yearning 
lives — yearning  for  they  know  not  what. 
Think  earnestly  of  the  many,  both  young  and 
old,  who  are  living  fiercely-tempted,  sin-bound, 
habit-bound  lives;  and  remember  that  He 
came  that  men  might  be  free.  Think  of  those 
who  are  living  defeated  and  discouraged  lives ; 
this  was  not  the  design  of  the  God  of  hope. 
To  use  the  word  of  Christ  Himself,  think  of 
those — and  how  great  their  number  within  the 
range  of  your  knowledge — who  are  living  lost 
lives.  “The  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost” — that  is,  men  who 
have  not  yet  found  themselves,  still  less,  have 

[19] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

been  found  by  others  or  by  Christ.  May  the 
Spirit  of  God  profoundly  impress  us  with  the 
tragic  fact  of  the  men  and  the  boys  we  know 
who  are  living  lifeless  lives.  Against  this  fact 
let  the  central  purpose  of  Christ  stand  out,  “I 
am  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and  that 
they  might  have  it  more  abundantly.”  As  we 
ponder  these  words,  is  there  one  among  us  who 
really  knows  Christ  and  is  in  sympathy  with 
His  undying  purpose,  who  does  not  hear  in 
the  voice  of  these  needs  the  call  of  God  Him¬ 
self  telling  us  that  whatever  else  we  leave  un¬ 
done  we  should  not  leave  undone  the  bringing 
of  the  men  and  the  boys  of  the  oncoming 
generation  face  to  face  with  the  Lord  of  Life. 

Contemplation  of  the  forces  of  evil  arrayed 
against  us  in  the  spiritual  warfare  must  also 
serve  to  deepen  the  conviction  of  every  man 
of  us  that  we  are  called  of  God  to  this  vital 
and  unselfish  mission.  Think  of  the  magni¬ 
tude  of  the  forces  of  sin  and  shame.  It  is 
enough  to  stagger  us  and  to  cause  our  hearts 
to  quail,  did  we  not  remind  ourselves  that  we 
are  a  great  Brotherhood  and  that  Christ,  with 
Whom  resides  all  power  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  is  in  our  midst. 

Think  also  of  the  activity  of  these  evil  forces 

[20] 


THE  CALL 


and  influences.  I  remind  you  that  theirs  is  a 
ceaseless  activity.  They  take  no  vacations. 
They  never  have  a  week-end  or  a  night  off. 
Like  gravitation  they  are  constantly  at  work 
tugging  men  downward.  In  all  my  many 
years  of  mingling  with  young  men  of  the  va¬ 
rious  nations  I  have  never  found  sin  or  organ¬ 
ized  evil  lifting  one  man  upward.  The  pull 
is  ever  down,  down,  down  to  ultimate  depths 
of  failure,  gloom,  and  despair. 

Think  again  of  the  wonderful  ingenuity  of 
the  evils  of  our  day.  This  is  enough  to  chal¬ 
lenge  our  admiration.  How  many  times  their 
headwork  puts  us  to  shame.  What  marvellous 
adaptation  of  means  to  nefarious  ends !  What 
striking  knowledge  of  modern  psychology! 
Let  us  not  only  think  but  be  stirred  to  warfare 
as  we  think  of  the  cruelty  of  the  forces  of  the 
devil.  It  is  remorseless  cruelty.  These  evil 
influences  mean  no  good  to  any  man.  I  spent 
my  boyhood  in  a  small  village  of  less  than  eight 
hundred  people.  One  day  strong  men  bound 
a  man  with  whom  I  used  to  play  when  we  were 
both  little  boys  and  who  was  dear  to  me.  Be¬ 
fore  my  eyes  they  bound  him  and  bore  him 
away  to  the  home  of  mental  deaths — the  insane 
asylum.  Sin  did  it,  and  I  will  fight  sin  until 

[21] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


I  die!  I  do  not  understand  the  man  among 
us  whose  heart  is  not  aflame  with  righteous 
anger  and  whose  will  is  not  set  to  fight  until 
his  last  day  against  every  evil  influence  which 
is  cutting  into  the  best  life  of  men  and  boys. 

The  only  secret  of  world-conquering  power 
lies  in  fixing  the  gaze  of  men  on  Christ,  Who 
alone  imparts  the  courage,  strength,  endur¬ 
ance,  and  vitality  to  wage  successful  spiritual 
warfare.  I  do  not  fear  the  forces  arrayed 
against  us;  they  should  stimulate  you  and  me, 
provided  we  ourselves  are  in  right  relation  to 
the  Lord  Who  cast  out  devils,  restored  to 
action  the  palsied,  and  conquered  death. 
“Greater  is  He  that  is  in  you  than  he  that  is 
in  the  world.”  My  solicitude  is  not  because 
of  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  but  solely 
because  of  the  naturalism  of  our  lives.  I  mean 
naturalism  in  the  sense  of  mere  human  energy 
in  contrast  with  lives  surging  with  the  might 
of  God  as  a  result  of  being  in  right  relation 
to  our  Lord. 

On  one  of  my  journeys  in  a  distant  land, 
I  found  myself  one  day  in  a  city  which  cer¬ 
tainly  reminded  me  of  the  phrase,  “Satan’s 
Seat,”  used  in  the  last  book  of  the  Bible  to 
characterize  a  certain  other  city.  Satan  was 

[22] 


THE  CALL 


evidently  on  the  throne  and  dictating  terms. 
In  the  course  of  my  visit  and  with  the  help  of 
a  local  missionary  I  found  in  that  city  only 
three  Christian  young  men,  or  rather  boys. 
As  I  recall  they  all  belonged  to  one  college 
having  in  it  nearly  a  thousand  youths. 
Toward  the  end  of  my  visit  they  asked  me  the 
question,  “How  many  will  it  take  to  make 
a  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association?”  I  re¬ 
plied,  “Three,  provided  they  are  agreed  and 
have  an  unselfish  purpose.”  They  said  they 
had  thought  that  probably  it  would  be  neces¬ 
sary  to  have  as  many  as  a  hundred  Christians 
as  members,  that  they  would  need  a  building, 
and  would  require  considerable  financial  re¬ 
sources.  I  insisted,  however,  that  even  three 
without  building  or  money  could  constitute  a 
successful  Association.  With  some  other 
words  of  encouragement  I  left  them.  Before 
that  year  was  over  they  had  acted  on  this  sim¬ 
ple  suggestion,  formed  an  Association  and  led 
ten  of  their  fellow  students  and  one  professor 
to  become  real  Christians.  When  I  returned 
to  that  city  later  their  number  had  grown  to 
over  forty.  As  a  result  of  really  sacrificial 
giving  on  the  part  of  many,  they  had  secured 
a  home  for  their  Association,  and  had  become 

[23] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


a  recognized  spiritual  force  in  that  wicked  city. 
The  secret  of  their  spiritual  power  I  learned 
on  the  Sunday  I  was  with  them.  They  woke 
me  up  that  morning  before  daybreak  and  took 
me  on  a  long  walk  to  the  top  of  a  hill.  It 
seemed  to  me  like  a  mountain  for  I  arrived 
at  the  top  panting.  We  reached  there  just  as 
the  sun  was  rising.  They  fell  on  their  faces 
on  the  pine  needles  under  the  trees  for  their 
customary  Sunday  morning  prayer  meeting. 
I  could  not  understand  the  language  of  the 
country,  but  I  can  tell  when  men  are  giving 
themselves  to  real  intercession.  Then  I  under¬ 
stood  how  it  was  that  they  were  nerved  with 
a  power  infinitely  greater  than  their  own  to  go 
down  into  the  city  to  face  serious  opposition 
and  persecution. 

Again  I  say,  “Greater  is  He  that  is  in  you 
than  he  that  is  in  the  world.”  So  it  will  be 
with  us  in  every  city  and  town  represented 
here,  no  matter  how  great  the  difficulty,  no 
matter  how  deadly  the  enemy;  if  we  can  get 
men  and  boys,  including  ourselves,  to  look 
steadfastly  to  Jesus  Christ,  there  will  be 
communicated  to  us  beyond  peradventure 
what  I  call  world-conquering  power. 

Is  not  the  greatest  need  of  the  Young  Men’s 

[24] 


THE  CALL 


Christian  Association  today  in  every  land  this 
central  purpose,  this  fixing  of  the  gaze  of  all 
our  members,  and  of  others  whom  we  would 
influence,  on  the  Source  of  life  and  energy? 
Or,  to  change  the  language,  is  not  this  our 
most  strategic  need?  By  most  strategic  is 
meant  a  need  which  if  met  will  make  possible 
meeting  all  our  other  needs.  Let  us  test  this 
by  looking  now  at  some  of  our  admitted  needs. 

One  of  our  recognized  needs  is  that  of  more 
workers,  both  secretaries  and  laymen.  If  my 
life  is  spared  I  want  to  join  forces  with  my 
colleagues  throughout  the  Brotherhood  in  an 
effort  to  secure  for  the  secretaryship  of  the 
Association — local,  state,  and  international — 
one  thousand  of  the  choicest  young  men  and 
boys  our  generation  has  produced.  We  need 
many  more  than  one  thousand  for  such  work, 
but  if  we  can  get  one  thousand  of  the  best 
qualified  youths  they  will  serve  as  a  magnet 
to  draw  the  others  needed.  Even  more  than 
a  few  thousands  of  the  ablest  men  for  the  secre¬ 
taryships  do  we  need  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  laymen  to  bring  to  bear  in  their  various 
callings  the  spirit  and  teachings  of  Christ  on 
modern  life  in  all  its  relationships.  What  is 
the  secret  of  getting  these  workers,  both  the 

[25] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


secretaries  and  the  laymen?  Let  this  question 
be  answered  with  another.  What  was  the 
secret  of  getting  those  of  us  who  are  here 
today?  In  the  case  of  some  of  us,  was  it 
not  this  way?  One  day  we  discovered  Jesus 
Christ  as  an  actual  triumphant  Saviour. 
Shackles  that  had  bound  us  broke  in  pieces 
at  our  feet.  Stains  which  had  caused  con¬ 
science  to  be  afraid  were  washed  out  and 
peace  came  to  our  troubled  souls.  From  sheer 
gratitude  we  said  to  ourselves  and  to  Him, 
“We  cannot  henceforth  live  unto  ourselves  but 
must  give  ourselves  to  the  service  of  our 
Saviour  and,  therefore,  of  our  fellows.”  With 
greater  or  less  faithfulness  we  have  continued 
in  this  pathway  of  unselfish  ministry. 

With  others  present  may  not  the  experience 
have  been  somewhat  like  this?  Though  we 
had  discovered  Christ  as  a  Saviour  or  great 
Teacher  we  were  not  properly  instructed  or 
followed  up.  We,  therefore,  drifted  or  wan¬ 
dered  out  over  the  desert  sands.  Doubts  or 
unanswered  questions  filled  our  minds.  Then 
later  some  wise  friend  or  teacher  instructed  us 
more  perfectly  and  as  a  result  of  such  guidance 
and  of  our  conscientious  study  we  reached  a 
point,  as  was  the  case  with  myself,  when  we 

[26] 


THE  CALL 


could  with  intellectual  honesty  recognize  and 
bow  down  to  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord.  When  I 
found  I  could  do  that  I  rose  from  my  knees 
and  wrote  to  my  father  who  had  held  for  me, 
an  only  son,  a  prosperous  business,  and  said  to 
him,  “Father,  dispose  of  that  business  for  I 
have  seen  a  vision.”  That  vision  has  never 
faded.  Now  my  brothers,  if  it  has  been  in 
some  such  way — that  is,  in  every  case  by  com¬ 
ing  to  see  Christ  as  He  is,  the  Saviour  and 
Lord  of  Life,  the  One,  therefore,  Who  alone 
has  the  right  to  call  His  workers  and  to  domi¬ 
nate  their  decisions — that  we  were  all  enlisted 
in  unselfish  service,  why  not  short-circuit  and 
make  our  chief  method,  so  far  as  securing 
workers  is  concerned,  to  bring  men  face  to 
face  with  Christ  Himself? 

Another  ever-present  need  is  that  of  money. 
Sometimes  I  think  the  Association  Movement 
has  reached  only  the  blue-print  stage.  If  we 
are  seriously  to  attempt  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  new  generation  and  are  to  render  the  serv¬ 
ice  which  the  Church  of  Christ  desires  at  our 
hands,  we  shall  probably  have  to  spend  hun¬ 
dreds  of  millions  of  dollars  during  the  next 
twenty  years  where  we  have  spent  scores  of 
millions  during  the  past  twenty  years.  With 

[27] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

you  I  have  had  experience  with  various  policies 
and  methods  of  raising  money.  I  wish,  how¬ 
ever,  to  place  myself  by  the  side  of  that  Christ- 
like  Baptist  pastor,  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon,  of  Bos¬ 
ton,  who  not  long  before  his  death  said  to  us 
that,  so  far  as  securing  money  for  unselfish 
causes  was  concerned,  if  he  had  his  life  to  live 
over  again  he  would  change  his  approach  and 
method.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  did  this  with 
reference  to  his  church  and  institutions.  He 
said  that  instead  of  exhorting  men  to  give, 
pleading  with  men  to  give,  and  begging  men 
to  give,  and  instead  of  devising  so  much  ma¬ 
chinery  and  so  many  schemes  for  getting 
money  from  people,  he  would  seek  rather  to 
deepen  their  acquaintance  with  Jesus  Christ. 
What  do  not  some  of  us  owe  to  this  discern¬ 
ing  and  faithful  word!  Do  we  not  need  it 
today?  Let  us  seek  to  have  our  present  and 
prospective  donors,  notably  the  new  genera¬ 
tion,  become  actually  acquainted  with  Christ. 
When  men  come  to  see  Him  as  He  is,  the 
Lord  of  Life  and,  therefore,  the  Owner  of 
all  they  possess,  the  fountains  of  unselfish¬ 
ness  or  benevolence  within  them  will  begin  to 
flow,  and,  what  is  much  more  significant,  the 
tides  of  sacrifice  will  rise  to  flood.  Who  can 

[28] 


THE  CALL 


place  a  limit  on  the  possibilities  of  the  gifts  of 
men,  rich  or  poor,  who  come  under  the  sway 
of  Jesus  Christ?  Gifts  made  with  an  eye 
single  to  pleasing  Him  are  omnipotent,  omni¬ 
present,  and  eternal.  In  no  other  way  can  we 
interpret  the  deeper  meanings  of  the  Lord’s 
comment  on  the  widow’s  mite. 

A  still  greater  need  among  us  today  is  that 
of  vision.  How  true  it  is  in  the  field  in  which 
we  are  serving  at  home  and  abroad  that  where 
there  is  no  vision  the  men  and  the  boys  perish. 
We  need  not  blame  the  powers  of  ignorance, 
darkness,  and  evil  if  our  leaders  have  not  the 
vision  to  discern  the  secret  of  combating  these 
adverse  conditions  and  influences.  At  our 
request  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  is 
making  an  impartial  study  of  the  work  of 
The  International  Committee.  One  day  one 
of  his  investigators  asked  one  of  my  friends 
to  indicate  the  greatest  need  of  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  Movement.  My 
friend  replied,  “The  need  of  prophets.”  I 
think  you  and  I,  on  reflection,  would  go  one 
step  further  back  and  say  that  greater  than 
the  need  of  prophets  is  that  of  seers.  In 
fact  a  man  must  first  be  a  true  seer  before 
he  can  be  a  real  prophet.  What  is  the  secret 

[29] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


of  becoming  a  seer  or  a  man  of  vision?  We 
shall  hear  the  answer  in  a  voice  from  a  far¬ 
away  time,  “They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord 
shall  renew  their  strength;  they  shall  mount 
up  with  wings  as  eagles.”  The  eagle  typifies 
the  man  of  vision.  Notice  the  atmosphere  and 
the  process  which  facilitate  the  development 
of  the  power  of  vision.  It  is  in  the  presence 
of  Christ,  an  atmosphere  of  unselfishness,  in 
which  we  come  to  see  clearly  and  afar  off ;  and 
it  is  in  the  process  of  waiting  on  the  Lord,  of 
fixing  our  gaze  upon  Him,  that  we  come  to  see 
things  as  they  are,  and  thus  become  men  of 
true  vision. 

Is  not  one  of  the  most  clamant  needs 
of  our  day  that  of  men  of  courage,  of  capacity 
for  vicariousness,  and  of  undiscour ageable  en¬ 
thusiasm  to  bring  in  the  reign  of  Christ  in 
social,  industrial,  international,  and  inter¬ 
racial  affairs?  Because  of  the  recent  alarming 
development  of  the  divisive  forces  of  mankind 
among  groups  and  peoples,  the  next  quarter 
of  a  century  is  sure  to  be  most  difficult  and 
momentous.  It  demands  a  generation  of 
Christians  of  heroic  mold  and  sacrificial  spirit. 
We  are  summoned  not  only  to  deal  with  the 
wounded  but  to  stop  the  fight.  This  means 

[30] 


THE  CALL 


that  we  must  deal  with  the  causes,  and  that  has 
ever  meant  the  way  of  loneliness,  the  way  of 
the  Cross.  From  the  days  when  that  small  de¬ 
spised  band  went  forth  to  transform  the 
Roman  Empire  and  the  regions  beyond  down 
to  the  present  day,  is  it  not  true  that  men  have 
derived  the  conviction,  the  courage,  the  wis¬ 
dom,  the  patience,  and  the  power  to  endure 
suffering  by  looking  unto  the  One  Who  en¬ 
dured  the  Cross  and  despised  the  shame  and, 
therefore,  reigns  today? 

Do  we  not  hear  God  calling  upon  us  to  con¬ 
front  men  and  boys  with  the  Living  Christ  as 
we  remind  ourselves  of  the  expectations  of 
the  Churches?  Thank  God  it  is  true  that  the 
Churches  do  regard  this  as  the  vital  objective 
of  the  Associations  and  do  expect  them  to  give 
it  right  of  way  in  their  policies  and  work.  One 
cannot  be  surprised  that  here  and  there  a  pas¬ 
tor  has  lost  heart  with  reference  to  the  work 
of  the  Association,  because  the  particular  As¬ 
sociation  with  which  he  is  most  familiar  may 
have  failed  to  hold  in  proper  prominence  this 
main  object  of  its  existence.  Happily,  how¬ 
ever,  I  can  bear  testimony  in  the  light  of  my 
world-wide  contacts  that,  generally  speaking, 
the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  at 

[31] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


home  and  abroad  rings  true  to  its  evangelistic 
purpose.  Should  the  day  come  that  this  is 
not  the  case,  or  that  the  Church  no  longer  ex¬ 
pects  the  Association  to  render  this  most  vital 
service,  then  you  and  I  have  more  important 
work  to  do  elsewhere  than  in  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association. 

Again  we  recognize  the  call  of  God  sum¬ 
moning  the  Associations  to  their  life-giving 
mission  as  we  reflect  on  the  fact  that  the  con¬ 
ditions  in  the  world  today  are  more  favorable 
than  ever  before  for  confronting  men  with  the 
living  ChrisJ.  The  past  six  years  have  con¬ 
stituted  as  it  were  a  vast  process  of  exclusion, 
serving,  as  they  have  done,  to  withdraw  the 
gaze  of  confidence  of  all  mankind  from  one 
after  the  other  of  the  so-called  pillars  or  sup¬ 
ports  of  civilization  except  one,  “the  same  yes¬ 
terday,  today,  and  forever” — the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  He  never  seemed  so  unique,  never 
more  necessary,  never  more  sufficient.  What 
a  tremendous  advantage  the  Associations  and 
the  Churches  to  which  they  are  related  have 
in  possessing  the  one  and  only  Gospel  ade¬ 
quate  to  satisfy  the  deepest  needs  of  the  human 
heart  and  of  the  human  race,  and,  therefore, 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  present  world 

[32] 


THE  CALL 


situation.  Moreover,  in  all  parts  of  North 
America  and,  in  fact,  throughout  the  wide 
world,  the  doors  are  open  today  as  never  be¬ 
fore  for  the  friendly,  constructive  ministry  of 
Christianity.  More  encouraging  is  the  knowl¬ 
edge  that  beyond  these  open  doors  all  classes 
and  conditions  of  men,  the  learned  and  the 
illiterate,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  young  and 
the  old  are  more  accessible  to  the  genuinely 
Christian  approach  and  message  than  at  any 
other  time  within  the  memory  of  man.  Still 
more  reassuring  is  the  fact  that  on  every  hand 
we  find  both  men  and  boys  so  responsive  to 
the  note  of  reality  in  religion.  How  such 
significant  facts  and  circumstances  should 
quicken  our  faith  and  inspire  our  efforts  to 
press  our  unparalleled  advantage! 

The  Young  Men’s  Christian  Associations 
of  North  America  unquestionably  stand  just 
now  at  the  fork  in  the  road.  We  have  come 
to  the  hour  of  momentous  choices  and  deci¬ 
sions.  With  all  of  us  it  is  a  clear  choice  be¬ 
tween  expansion  and  contraction.  We  must 
choose  whether  or  not  in  our  immediate  plans 
and  actions  we  shall  strive  to  widen  the  limits 
of  Christ’s  Kingdom  in  the  only  way  this  is 
ever  done,  namely,  by  bringing  young  men 

[33] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


and  boys  one  by  one,  through  intelligent  choice 
on  their  part,  under  the  sway  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  Lord.  We  cannot  evade  the  decision  be¬ 
cause  not  to  decide  is  tantamount  to  a  deci¬ 
sion  against  the  enlargement  of  Christ’s 
Kingdom.  Ours  is  a  decision  also  between  liv¬ 
ing  in  the  mountains  or  coming  down  to  abide 
and  work  in  the  mists  and  gloom  of  the  valley. 
What  mountains,  you  ask?  The  mount  of 
vision  where  we  shall  see  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  becoming  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and 
of  Christ.  The  mount  of  transfiguration 
where  we  shall  see  no  man  save  Jesus  only 
and  be  transformed  more  and  more  into  His 
likeness  and  thus  be  more  truly  qualified  for 
attracting  others  to  Him.  The  mount  of  sac¬ 
rifice — the  lonely  mount  where  we  see  a  Cross. 
Ours  also  is  the  choice  between  regulating  our 
Association  policies  and  plans  by  our  visible, 
material  resources  on  the  one  hand,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  by  our  limitless,  invisible,  spiritual 
resources.  In  a  word,  these  decisions  which 
cannot  be  deferred  nor  escaped  constitute,  in 
truth,  a  choice  between  atrophy  and  vitality, 
between  scorching  desert  and  gushing  foun-> 
tains. 

Our  faith  is  involved  in  these  momentous 

[34] 


THE  CALL 


decisions.  In  order  to  prove  our  faith  to  a 
most  alert  and  inquiring  generation  we  simply 
must  confront  men  with  the  Living  Christ. 
Archbishop  Whately  has  said,  “If  my  faith 
be  false,  I  ought  to  change  it ;  whereas  if  it  be 
true,  I  am  bound  to  propagate  it.55  If  any  of 
us  have  professed  belief  in  a  delusion,  we  have 
nothing  more  important  to  do  than  to  abandon 
it;  but  if  we  have  laid  hold  of  the  truth — and 
I  am  persuaded  that  those  who  hear  these 
words  would  rather  lay  down  their  lives  than 
deny  their  Lord — then  let  us  be  logical,  let 
us  be  consistent,  let  us  be  sincere  and  give  our¬ 
selves  unwearyingly  to  the  proclamation  of 
our  vital  message. 

To  preserve  our  faith  we  must  confront  men 
and  boys  with  Christ  Himself.  How  true  it  is 
that  if  a  Christian  ceases  to  be  evangelistic, 
sooner  or  later  he  will  cease  to  be  evangelical. 
His  name  may  remain  on  the  roll  of  an  evan¬ 
gelical  church,  but  his  life  will  belie  his  pro¬ 
fession.  This  on  the  authority  of  the  solemniz¬ 
ing  words  of  Christ,  “Why  call  ye  me,  Lord, 
Lord,  and  do  not  the  things  which  I  say?” 
What  did  He  say?  “Ye  are  the  light  of  the 
world,”  but  not  under  the  bushel.  “Ye  are 
the  salt  of  the  earth,”  but  the  only  way  salt 

[35] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


can  save  is  by  coming  into  contact  with  that 
which  it  is  to  save.  ‘'Follow  me,  and  I  will 
make  you  to  become  fishers  of  men,”  but  how 
can  one  become  a  fisher  of  men  unless  he  casts 
in  his  line  or  net? 

Not  only  to  prove  and  to  preserve  our  faith, 
but  likewise,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  to 
propagate  it  we  who  bear  the  name  of  Christ 
must  direct  toward  Him  the  gaze  of  others, 
who  know  Him  not.  It  has  been  my  lot  to 
make  several  visits  to  Russia,  the  land  of  the 
Russian  Orthodox  Church  with  its  more  than 
one  hundred  million  communicants.  I  have 
also  visited  the  Balkan  states,  the  Turkish 
areas,  and  the  other  lands  where  we  find  the 
various  other  autonomous  Eastern  Churches. 
All  these  Eastern  Churches  have  a  number  of 
things  in  common:  for  example,  it  is  the  cus¬ 
tom  for  their  worshipers  to  stand  during  the 
church  services  no  matter  how  long  these  may 
continue.  I  can  see  now  the  great  St.  Isaac’s 
Cathedral  in  Petrograd  with  its  vast  enclos¬ 
ure  crowded  with  thousands  of  reverent 
worshipers.  Another  thing  common  to  all 
these  Eastern  Churches  is  that  on  Easter 
Eve,  during  the  hours  preceding  midnight, 
every  communicant  member  who  can  do  so 

[36] 


THE  CALL 


comes  to  the  Church.  Thus  the  Church  may 
be  packed  to  suffocation.  Sometimes  when 
all  cannot  be  accommodated  within  the  en¬ 
closure,  you  will  find  them  standing  outside 
beyond  the  doors  and  even  down  the 
narrow  streets.  That  night  both  within  and 
outside  the  Church  all  those  who  can,  bear 
an  unlighted  candle.  At  the  midnight  hour 
beginning  with  the  candles  by  the  altar,  the 
fire  is  spread  from  candle  to  candle  reach¬ 
ing  out  even  into  the  streets,  and  I  am 
told  that  often  the  worshipers  bear  their 
lighted  candles  back  to  their  homes  to  kindle 
other  unlighted  candles  which  may  be  waiting 
there.  I  like  to  think  of  our  Retreat  here  to¬ 
day  with  this  figure  in  mind.  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Light  of  the  World,  is  unmistakably  in  our 
midst.  The  title  of  one  of  the  great  sermons 
of  Phillips  Brooks  is  “The  Candle  of  the 
Lord,”  based  on  the  text,  “The  spirit  of  man 
is  the  candle  of  the  Lord.”  The  spirit  of  each 
one  of  us  is  a  candle  of  the  Lord.  We  draw 
near  Him.  It  may  be  that  the  spirit  of  a  few 
among  us  has  never  been  lighted  by  Him.  It 
may  be  that  with  some  of  us  the  light  has  been 
allowed  to  become  dim,  perchance  there  re¬ 
maining  only  a  little  ember.  We  draw  near 

[37] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

Him  to  be  rekindled.  With  all  of  us  is  it  not 
our  desire  to  have  the  flame  of  our  spirit  quick¬ 
ened  by  Him  that  it  may  burn  more  purely, 
more  brightly,  more  intensely?  Then  we  shall 
go  forth  to  bear  our  torches  near  and  far,  to 
enable  Him,  through  us,  to  kindle  other  spirits 
in  our  homes,  in  our  offices,  in  our  factories,  in 
our  schools  and  colleges,  on  land  and  sea,  at 
home  and  abroad. 


[38] 


II 

THE  PRESENT 

INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 
AND  THE  YOUNG  MEN’S 
CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION 


II 


The  Present  International  Situation 
and  the  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association 

To  realize  the  vastness  and  urgency  of  the 
opportunity  of  the  North  American  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association,  and,  therefore, 
the  absolute  necessity  of  augmenting  their 
spiritual  vitality  and  power,  it  is  essential  that 
we  understand  the  present  world  situation.  A 
man  asked  me  a  few  days  ago  what  I  thought 
of  the  world  outlook  at  this  time  in  contrast 
with  the  impressions  made  upon  me  in  my  suc¬ 
cessive  world  journeys  during  the  past  thirty 
or  more  years.  I  said  to  him  what  I  will  now 
say  to  you,  that  I  never  was  so  much  alarmed 
regarding  the  world  as  I  am  today.  Neverthe¬ 
less,  I  am  not  an  alarmist,  as  my  friends  well 
know;  still  less  am  I  a  pessimist,  as  I  hope 
will  be  made  clear  in  this  hour.  I  would  be  a 
deceiver,  however,  if  I  gave  any  other  impres¬ 
sion  than  that  I  am  burdened  with  solicitude 

[41] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


with  reference  to  the  present  outlook  and 
perils. 

Internationally  the  world  as  I  see  it  is  in  a 
state  of  suspicion,  irritation,  and  want  of  fun¬ 
damental  unity.  Show  me  the  nation  which 
trusts  all  the  elements  within  its  own  borders, 
still  less  its  neighbors  near  and  far.  Are  not 
the  friction  points  between  the  nations,  and 
between  the  races,  more  numerous  now  than 
they  were  ten  years  ago,  and  are  they  not  also 
more  aggravated  or  inflamed?  By  want  of 
fundamental  unity  I  have  in  mind  not  simply 
the  obvious,  namely,  the  fact  that  two  groups 
of  nations  yesterday  at  each  other’s  throats  are 
still  in  reality  arrayed  against  each  other,  but 
the  fact  that,  in  each  of  these  groups  of  nations 
recently  at  war,  there  have  come  such  sharp, 
even  radical,  differences — differences  reaching 
down  to  the  very  base  of  world  policy.  It  is 
indeed  alarming  that  the  world  today  is  sur¬ 
charged  with  distrust  and  inflammation,  and 
that  there  is  lacking  that  basic  unity  on  which 
any  stable  and  genuinely  harmonious  inter¬ 
national  life  must  rest. 

Economically  the  world  is  in  an  impossible 
position.  The  debts  of  the  nations  have 
mounted  from  forty-three  billion  dollars  gold, 

[42] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


as  they  were  in  1914,  to  over  four-hundred  bil¬ 
lion  dollars  gold.  The  man  does  not  live  who 
can  take  in  this  figure.  There  is  one  thing, 
however,  that  we  all  see  with  elemental  clear¬ 
ness,  and  that  is  that  the  curfew  is  going  to 
ring  late ;  that  the  hours  of  leisure  and  of  pleas¬ 
ure  for  scores  of  millions  of  people  now  liv¬ 
ing  are  to  be  very  few  indeed;  and  that  the 
backs  of  innocent  generations  yet  unborn  are 
to  be  bent  low  with  this  impossible  load.  While 
the  series  of  international  economic  confer¬ 
ences  may  continue  and  bring  some  relief,  the 
crushing  load  will  still  be  felt  by  unnumbered 
multitudes. 

Physically  the  world  is  passing  through  in¬ 
describable  and  almost  unbelievable  suffering. 
During  the  war  I  thought  I  knew  what  suffer¬ 
ing  was,  for  I  did  not  go  with  an  unfeeling 
heart  among  many  hospitals  in  the  armies  and 
into  many  lonely  prisoner-of-war  camps  on 
both  sides  of  the  struggle.  Let  me  remind  you, 
however,  that  during  the  past  year  more  men, 
women,  and  children  have  died  from  causes 
growing  out  of  the  late  war  in  the  belt  of 
countries  reaching  from  Northern  Russia  and 
Finland  down  through  Old  Russia  and  the 
Ukraine,  down  through  the  Baltic  states,  Po- 

[43] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

land,  Czecho-Slovakia,  the  new  Austria,  the 
new  Hungary,  and  the  Balkan  states,  down 
into  the  old  Turkish  areas,  not  including  Ger¬ 
many,  than  died  in  all  the  armies  on  both  sides 
of  the  war  in  any  twelve  months,  even  at  the 
peak  of  the  great  sacrifice.  So  far  as  one  can 
now  see,  quite  as  alarming  conditions  will  con¬ 
tinue  in  the  old  Turkish  areas  and  parts  of 
Russia  and  some  of  the  fringing  countries  dur¬ 
ing  the  present  year. 

In  fact  the  world  today  is  in  grave  peril. 
There  are  physical  diseases  running  their 
course  that  do  not  stop  at  international  bound¬ 
aries.  Not  long  since  there  came  into  New 
York  harbor  a  ship  from  a  Baltic  port  on  which 
were  discovered,  happily  in  time,  three  cases 
of  spotted  typhus.  Dr.  Copeland,  recently 
Commissioner  of  Health  of  New  York  City 
and  now  Senator  from  New  York  State,  on 
returning  from  his  last  trip  to  Eastern  Europe 
and  the  fringes  of  W estern  Asia,  told  us  that 
there  were  then  in  that  part  of  the  world  alone 
not  less  than  ten  million  cases  of  typhus.  It 
is  generally  accepted  that  there  have  been  at 
least  nine  million  deaths  from  this  disease  in 
those  regions  within  the  past  four  years.  We 
do  not  wonder  that  the  League  of  Nations, 

[44] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


notwithstanding  its  earlier  unsatisfactory  ex¬ 
perience,  has  recently  renewed  its  efforts  to 
establish  an  effective  sanitary  cordon  around 
the  Western  gates  of  Russia;  and  yet  the  tides 
of  death  still  break  through. 

There  are  also  political  distempers  which 
cannot  be  stayed  at  any  frontier.  Chief  among 
these  is  Bolshevism.  Having  been  sent  to  Rus¬ 
sia  by  President  Wilson  as  a  member  of  the 
Root  Mission,  it  was  my  lot  to  be  there  when 
Bolshevism  had  its  rise.  We  were  there  when 
Lenine  began  his  famous  meetings.  With  the 
help  of  interpreters  we  heard  what  was  being 
said  by  these  agitators  in  all  parts  of  Russia, 
and  likewise  had  passed  on  to  us  what  was 
appearing  in  the  Russian  papers  from  Vladi- 
vostock  to  Petrograd.  We  received  reports 
also  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  crumbling 
Russian  Army.  We  became  alarmed  and  tried 
to  sound  the  warning;  but  little  did  we  expect 
to  live  to  see  the  day  that  this  fell  disease  would 
eat  into  more  highly  organized  nations  as  well 
as  into  those  of  lower  social  vitality.  And  yet 
that  is  what  any  one  with  his  eyes  open  now 
sees.  Many  superficial  things  are  being  said 
about  Bolshevism.  Possibly  one-twentieth  of 
Bolshevism  should  command  our  admiration, 

[45] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


because  that  one-twentieth  includes  principles 
which  entered  into  the  very  foundation  of  our 
own  country;  but  having  said  this  word  that 
some  may  regard  as  all  too  generous,  let  me 
quickly  add  that  nineteen-twentieths  of  Bol¬ 
shevism  should  be  regarded  by  us  as  a  malig¬ 
nant  disease  if  we  may  judge  by  effects  now 
visible.  Here  one  has  in  mind  not  simply  eco¬ 
nomic  effects  of  which  so  much  is  said,  but 
those  more  serious  social  and  moral  effects  and 
likewise  the  nefarious  policy  of  the  present 
Soviet  Government  with  reference  to  religion. 

More  serious,  if  possible,  than  the  physical 
and  political  dangers  are  the  moral  perils. 
Some  of  you  doubtless  have  read  reports  tell¬ 
ing  of  the  startling  increase  in  juvenile  delin¬ 
quency  in  France.  Quite  as  alarming  facts 
could  be  given  about  other  countries.  Eleven 
million  fathers  and  older  brothers  cannot  be 
laid  away  without  affecting  the  morals  of  the 
rising  generation  of  boys — a  generation,  let  it 
be  added,  on  whose  slender  shoulders  are  set¬ 
tling  down  greater  weights  of  responsibility 
than  have  been  placed  upon  any  other  genera¬ 
tion  of  boys  the  world  has  ever  known.  You 
are  not  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association,  through 

[46] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 

the  World’s  Committee,  has  called  to  meet  in 
Austria  within  a  few  months  a  congress  of 
boys’  workers  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
While  the  delegates  will  discuss  all  subjects 
in  a  world  context,  it  is  hoped  that  one  of  the 
main  results  will  be  the  initiation  of  policies 
and  plans  which  will  greatly  further  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  shattered  boy-life  of 
Europe. 

Notwithstanding  serious  and  tragic  facts 
such  as  those  already  mentioned,  I  do  not  find 
myself  in  accord  with  that  French  savant, 
widely  quoted  in  this  country,  who  insists  that 
all  Europe  is  dying.  I  would  say  that  Europe 
is  very  sick.  I  would  be  obliged  to  say  the 
same  of  Asia  from  which  I  recently  returned 
— Asia  from  Siberia  to  India  and  from  Japan 
to  Turkey.  Shall  we  not  have  to  say  the  same 
also  about  Africa  and  Latin  America?  The 
sickness  which  I  see,  however,  in  my  travels 
among  the  nations,  is  that  which  we  associate 
with  new  birth.  It  is  true  there  are  great 
agonies — but  a  child  is  born!  From  my  recent 
world  contacts  I  come  among  you  to  say  that 
across  the  world  not  only  are  new  nations 
springing  into  being  but  old  nations,  even  the 
oldest,  are  being  reborn.  It  is  a  wonderful 

[47] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


moment  in  which  to  live.  Wherever  I  have 
gone  in  recent  days  I  have  been  made  vividly 
conscious  of  the  thrill  of  a  new  life.  Every 
backward  nation,  every  oppressed  race,  every 
depressed  stratum  of  society  is  today  tingling 
with  new  aspirations,  ambitions,  and  hopes. 

Another  very  encouraging  thing  about  the 
world  today  is  the  fact  that  so  many  nations 
are  in  a  plastic  condition.  The  titanic  forges 
which  have  been  working  overtime  during  the 
past  decade  have  made  the  world  molten.  We 
do  well  to  remember,  however,  that  soon  it  will 
become  as  fixed  and  solid  as  an  iron  casting. 
This  suggests  the  central  question  now  before 
all  mankind,  a  question  which  should  be  much 
more  in  the  thought  of  the  American  people: 
In  what  molds  shall  the  new  world  set?  Shall 
they  be  the  ancient  molds  which  have  broken 
and  disappointed  us — the  molds  of  material¬ 
ism,  militarism,  and  crass  selfishness;  or  shall 
they  rather  be  the  molds  of  idealism,  altruism, 
brotherhood,  and  constructive  international 
cooperation?  Beside  this  issue  everything  else 
seems  relatively  minor  and  subsidiary. 

Plastic  did  I  say?  If  any  one  had  asked  you 
ten  years  ago  to  name  the  last  country  in 
Europe  which  you  then  expected  to  see  change, 

[48] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 

I  fancy  that  most  of  you  would  have  answered, 
as  I  would  have  done,  Russia.  And  yet  Russia 
is  today  the  most  plastic  nation  on  the  map. 
Therein  lies  her  danger;  therein,  thank  God, 
lies  infinite  hope.  Or,  if  some  one  had  asked 
us  twenty-five  years  ago  to  indicate  the  country 
in  Asia  which  we  then  expected  would  be  the 
last  to  come  out  into  the  full  stream  of  the 
modern  age,  I  think  most  of  you  would  have 
said,  what  I  then  said,  China,  for  not  long 
before  that  I  had  made  my  first  visit  to  that 
country.  China,  however,  in  many  respects, 
is  the  most  rapidly  changing  and  the  most  for¬ 
ward-looking  nation  in  the  Orient.  When  I 
was  there  on  that  first  visit  China  seemed  like 
a  stuffy  room  with  all  the  windows  and  doors 
hermetically  sealed  and  every  one  inside  gasp¬ 
ing  for  breath.  A  few  months  ago,  on  my 
sixth  visit,  China  reminded  me  of  a  house  wide 
open  with  all  the  breezes  of  Heaven  sweeping 
through.  We  are  living  in  a  new  world.  At 
an  incredible  pace  old  things  are  passing  away. 

Another  most  hopeful  aspect  of  the  world 
just  now  is  that  the  nations  are  humbled  and 
teachable.  No  longer  does  the  world  traveler 
find  any  country  standing,  as  it  were,  on  the 
corners  of  the  earth  thanking  God  that  it  is 

[49] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


not  as  other  nations  are.  Instead  of  that 
proud,  haughty,  self-sufficient,  self-satisfied  air, 
we  find  today  all  nations  chastened,  humbled, 
yes,  humbled  to  the  dust.  Is  this  not  something 
new?  Moreover  they  are  teachable.  This 
brings  to  mind  that  Old  Testament  word: 
“When  thy  judgments  are  in  the  earth,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  world  will  learn  righteous¬ 
ness.”  What  a  teacher!  Almighty  God. 
What  scholars !  The  entire  human  race. 
What  lessons!  Everywhere  I  go,  I  find  men 
asking  these  three  questions:  “How  did  we 
miss  the  way?”  “What  is  the  way  out?”  “How 
long,  O  God,  how  long?”  These  are  leading 
questions ;  and  they  may  lead  into  the  greatest 
realities,  provided  there  are  a  sufficient  number 
of  wise  teachers  and  guides. 

The  fact  that  the  whole  world  seems  to  be 
expectant  is  also  a  most  reassuring  aspect  of 
the  present  situation.  It  ought  to  cause  us  sur¬ 
prise  that  all  nations  are  today  looking  in  ex¬ 
pectancy  to  America.  Some  one  might  ask, 
“Why  should  this  occasion  surprise?”  Surely 
we  must  know  that  from  the  point  of  view  of 
other  countries,  the  course  wre  have  pursued  in 
recent  years  has  been  most  tantalizing.  I  find 
that  our  best  friends  abroad  are  mystified. 

[50] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


I 


They  say  quite  frankly,  “We  cannot  under¬ 
stand  what  you  are  doing  or  what  you  are  not 
doing,  what  you  are  saying  or  not  saying.” 
Their  feeling  ranges  all  the  way  from  mysti¬ 
fication  through  irritation  and  exasperation  to 
real  bitterness ;  and  yet,  I  repeat,  they  seem  to 
be  looking  to  us  as  to  no  other  nation. 

A  little  over  a  year  ago  I  crossed  the  Pa¬ 
cific,  and  on  board  were  the  members  of  the 
Japanese  delegation  who  had  just  been  attend¬ 
ing  the  Washington  Conference.  At  their  head 
was  Admiral  Baron  Kato,  now  Premier  of 
Japan.  Their  number  included  other  distin¬ 
guished  leaders  and  a  remarkable  staff  of  ex¬ 
perts.  In  the  course  of  a  serious  conversation, 
His  Excellency  made  this  striking  statement: 
“All  peoples  are  looking  to  the  United  States 
for  light  and  faith.”  This  is  indeed  an  arrest¬ 
ing  and  solemnizing  remark.  Notice,  he  did 
not  say  that  all  peoples  are  looking  to  America 
for  money.  One  of  the  delusions  under  which 
we  are  living  is  that  the  principal  thing  other 
peoples  want  from  us  is  our  money.  Surely 
they  want  money.  Most  certainly  they  need 
money.  Moreover,  the  National  American 
Bankers  Association  were  doubtless  right  in 
the  conclusions  they  reached  .and  announced  at 

[51] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

their  last  meeting  that  America  might  wisely 
relate  more  largely  its  money  power  to  helping 
meet  the  needs  of  the  world.  When,  however, 
we  permit  ourselves  to  think  that  this  is  the 
main  thing  which  other  lands  want  from  us,  we 
make  a  serious  mistake.  They  want  primarily 
from  us  what  we  under  similar  circumstances 
would  wish  from  them,  that  is,  confidence, 
sympathy,  understanding,  and  cooperation. 
My  chief  solicitude  is  not  lest  there  be  another 
and  more  disastrous  world  war;  not  lest  there 
be  a  collapse  of  modern  civilization;  but  lest 
we,  in  the  hour  of  the  world’s  admitted  need 
and,  therefore,  in  the  hour  of  opportunity  for 
greatest  service,  miss  the  day  of  our  visitation. 

Into  this  overwhelming,  bewildering,  truly 
alarming,  and  yet  most  hopeful  world  situa¬ 
tion,  God  has  thrust  the  Young  Men’s  Chris¬ 
tian  Association  to  render  unique,  constructive, 
international  service.  On  my  way  out  to  Chi¬ 
cago  a  few  months  ago,  at  the  invitation  of 
Mr.  Cyrus  McCormick  of  the  International 
Harvester  Company,  to  speak  at  a  breakfast, 
I  asked  myself  this  question:  “Suppose  in  the 
present  state  of  the  world  we  in  North  Amer¬ 
ica  had  to  create  an  organization  which  would 
be  world-wide  in  its  outreach,  which  would 

[52] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


represent  America  at  her  best  and  through 
which  we  might  send  forth  unselfish,  vital  in¬ 
fluence — how  long  would  it  take  us  to  create 
it  and  bring  it  to  the  point  of  efficiency  ?  How 
long  would  it  take  us  to  think  out  the  plan  for 
such  a  society,  to  raise  up  workers  for  project¬ 
ing  it,  to  train  these  workers,  to  open  doors 
for  them  into  all  parts  of  the  world,  to  win 
the  confidence  of  influential  elements  in  the 
different  nations,  to  lay  foundations,  to  ac¬ 
cumulate  experience,  to  develop  a  program  in 
the  light  of  such  necessary  experience,  to  do¬ 
mesticate  or  make  indigenous  the  entire  under¬ 
taking  in  each  country  and  among  each  race 
so  that  they  would  regard  it  as  their  own  and 
assume  responsibility  for  bringing  the  program 
to  bear  on  their  national  life  and  upon  their 
international  relations — how  long  would  all 
this  take?”  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  has  taken 
thirty-three  years,  that  is,  from  the  time  of  the 
International  Convention  in  Philadelphia  in 
1889,  which  by  the  way  was  my  first  Inter¬ 
national  Convention,  up  to  a  few  months  ago. 

Therefore,  if  we  had  to  begin  today  to  create 
such  an  agency,  surely  we  should  miss  this  day 
of  visitation,  this  day  of  limitless  opportunity 
for  international  service.  God  in  His  omnis- 

[53] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


cience  seems  to  have  prepared  this  instrument 
among  others  for  helping  to  serve  an  open, 
plastic,  and  responsive  world.  With  reverence 
we  should  thank  Him  that  in  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association,  not  only  of  America  but 
of  the  world,  we  have  an  agency  with  nine 
thousand  branches,  scattered  throughout  fifty 
nations,  with  a  membership  of  nearly  two  mil¬ 
lions,  blending  all  races  of  mankind,  having  as 
its  ideal  humanity  as  a  Brotherhood,  believing 
with  conviction  that  each  nation  and  race  has 
its  own  unique  contribution  to  make  to  our 
common  Christianity. 

The  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  as 
it  fronts  its  world  responsibility  has  guiding 
principles — principles  as  fixed  as  the  north 
star — to  be  brought  to  bear  in  all  its  countless 
international  and  interracial  contacts  through¬ 
out  the  world.  The  reason  why  we  insist  that 
these  guiding  principles  are  unerring  is  that 
we  honestly  believe  they  had  their  origin  in 
the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  we  mention 
them,  let  us  ask  ourselves  where,  in  the  realm 
of  non-Christian  religions,  of  irreligion,  or  of 
anti-religious  movements  were  these  principles 
conceived  ? 

First  among  them,  let  us  mention  the  infinite 

[S4] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 

worth  of  each  nation  or  race.  If  any  one 
doubts  that  this  originated  with  Christ,  let  him 
read  the  records  telling  of  what  Christ  said 
and  did  with  reference  to  what  in  His  time 
were  despised  peoples,  and  then  see  if  he  can 
find  a  similar  attitude  and  teaching  apart  from 
the  religion  of  Christ.  Likewise  note  the 
teaching  regarding  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man.  Before  Jesus 
came,  did  the  conception  prevail  that  God 
was  the  father  of  all  nations  and  of  all  races, 
and  did  the  idea  of  Fatherhood,  as  exempli¬ 
fied  in  Jesus  Christ,  obtain?  Or,  in  case  of 
the  correlate,  the  Brotherhood  of  Man,  is  it 
not  true  that  before  Jesus  came  men  were 
asking,  “Am  I  my  brother’s  keeper?”  whereas 
ever  since,  in  the  light  of  His  teaching  and 
example,  they  are  obliged  to  say,  “I  am  my 
brother’s  brother.” 

The  next  principle  is  that  inequalities  among 
nations  or  races  are  intended  to  signify  an 
opportunity  not  for  domination  and  exploita¬ 
tion  but  rather  for  justice  and  service,  espe¬ 
cially  by  the  strong  on  behalf  of  the  weak. 
This  principle  if  put  into  practice  would  trans¬ 
form  the  world  internationally.  Or,  consider 
the  principle  that  the  nations  and  races  are 

[55] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


members  one  of  another  and,  therefore,  abso¬ 
lutely  essential  to  one  another.  This  principle, 
also,  if  recognized  and  accepted,  would  change 
the  whole  international  outlook  and  feeling. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Golden  Rule,  ap¬ 
plicable  as  between  nations  as  well  as  between 
individuals.  If  any  one  doubts  whether  this 
principle  should  be  applied  between  nations,  let 
him  write  out  the  converse.  What  will  he  find 
that  he  has  written?  “Ruhr”  across  the 
world!  Think  also  of  another  profound  prin¬ 
ciple,  repentance  and  forgiveness  among  na¬ 
tions  as  among  individuals.  Who  besides 
Jesus  Christ  has  insisted  that  if  your  enemy 
sin  against  you,  you  are  to  forgive  him?  How 
this  would  soften  international  asperities  and 
flood  the  world  with  good-will.  There  is  an¬ 
other  principle  which  is  more  than  a  principle 
— a  command,  and,  therefore,  obligatory.  I 
refer  to  the  commandment  of  love,  the  most 
revolutionary  and  transforming  teaching  ever 
proclaimed.  This  includes  even  vicarious  love. 
I  sometimes  wonder  whether  we  may  not  have 
to  have  other  vicarious  nations.  In  no  other 
way  can  I  explain  what  is  taking  place  with 
reference  to  Armenia.  Why  is  she  kept 
stretched  upon  the  cross  unless  it  be  that  only 

[56] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


in  this  way  can  the  conscience  of  the  world  be 
made  to  tremble  and  thus  bring  forth  deeds 
meet  for  repentance  ?  The  commandment  also 
involves  aggressive  love,  for  if  Christ  teaches 
anything  He  teaches  us  to  love  our  enemies. 

We  could  sum  up  all  these  and  other  prin¬ 
ciples  of  Jesus  for  international  life  in  His 
most  comprehensive  teaching,  that  of  the  King¬ 
dom  of  God.  Some  day  the  kingdoms  of  this 

V  u 

world  are  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord  and  of  His  Christ,  and  He  shall  reign  for 
ever  and  ever.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  which  are  to  be  His 
include  not  only  the  political  kingdoms  but 
also  the  kingdom  of  finance,  the  kingdom  of 
commerce,  the  kingdom  of  industry,  the  king¬ 
dom  of  labor,  the  kingdom  of  the  movies,  the 
kingdom  of  the  press,  the  kingdom  of  learning, 
the  kingdom  of  society.  He  is  to  be  Lord  of 
all  or  He  is  not  Lord  at  all. 

In  a  conversation,  Sir  Edward  Grey,  now 
Viscount  Grey,  remarked  to  me  that  the  great 
need  is  the  moralization  of  international 
affairs.  In  answer  to  my  questions  it  became 
quite  clear  that  his  meaning  was  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  the  principles  and  spirit  of  Jesus  to 
all  international  relations.  To  whom  else  shall 

[57] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


we  go?  Thou,  O  Christ,  hast  the  word  for 
international  life  as  well  as  for  individual  life. 

The  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association, 
under  the  tutelage  of  the  Churches,  not  only 
has  unerring  principles  to  bring  to  bear  at  the 
friction  points  between  nations,  races,  and 
social  groups  at  home  and  abroad  the  world 
over,  but  also  possesses  through  Christ  a  spirit 
today  needed  as  never  before.  Certainly  we 
should  impart  the  spirit  of  hope  in  this  hour 
of  the  widening  of  the  zone  of  pessimism. 
Who  beside  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  teaches  that 
the  light  will  dispel  the  darkness,  that  the  good 
will  conquer  the  ill,  that  love  will  vanquish 
hate,  and  that  nations  as  well  as  individuals 
may  be  made  strongest  where  now  they  are 
the  weakest? 

Even  more  if  possible  should  we  shed  abroad 
as  a  world-wide  organization  the  spirit  of  faith. 
Remember  that  word  I  quoted  from  the  Japa¬ 
nese  Admiral  that  all  peoples  are  looking 
to  the  United  States  not  only  for  light  but 
also  for  faith.  What  man  helped  you  the 
most  when  you  were  discouraged,  or  when  you 
had  been  defeated,  or  when  everything  was 
going  against  you?  Was  it  not  the  man  who 
in  that  hour  reached  out  his  hand  to  you  and 

[58] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 

said,  “I  believe  in  you  and  intend  to  stand  by 
you”?  That  gave  you  new  heart  and  brought 
you  back.  It  is  the  same  way  with  nations. 
We  do  not  help  any  nation  back,  for  example 
Russia,  by  saying,  “We  count  you  out,”  or, 
“We  look  upon  you  as  negligible,”  or,  “You 
are  a  pariah  among  the  nations.”  I  heard  an 
American  say,  “Russia,  that  traitor  nation!” 
I  said  to  myself,  “Russia  a  traitor  nation — a 
land  which  laid  under  the  Minsk  and  Dvinsk 
marshes  and  on  the  wide  plains  of  Galicia,  and 
on  the  tablelands  of  the  Trans-Caucasus  and 
of  Armenia,  3,600,000  sons,  brothers,  and 
fathers  before  America  saw  her  duty  and  for 
the  same  reason  that  led  her  finally  to  see  it?” 
Surely  we  should  not  regard  that  nation  as 
a  traitor  simply'  because  some  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Bolsheviki,  as  blind  leaders  of  the 
blind,  are  tumbling  tens  of  millions  into 
ditches.  The  time  to  befriend  a  great  people 
is  in  their  hour  of  desperate  need.  What  I 
say  of  Russia  is  true  of  every  backward  nation 
and  race. 

Every  Association  and  every  Association 
member  or  friend  should  seek  to  promote  inter¬ 
national  thinking,  international  feeling,  and 
international  action.  We  hear  a  great  deal  in 

[59] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

these  days  about  the  international  mind,  but 
none  too  much.  By  the  international  mind  we 
mean  the  ability  to  take  into  one’s  mind  not 
only  his  own  nation  but  other  nations  together 
with  their  background,  their  strong  points  as 
well  as  their  weak  points,  their  needs,  their 
aspirations,  their  possibilities.  How  this  habit 
enlarges  any  man!  How  much  better  a  citi¬ 
zen  of  his  own  country  it  makes  him,  and  how 
much  it  helps  to  improve  the  international  min¬ 
istry  of  his  country! 

Even  more  do  we  need  today  to  develop  the 
international  heart.  I  can  best  make  clear  my 
meaning  by  reminding  you  of  the  prayer  of 
Zinzendorf  that  he  might  be  baptized  into  a 
sense  of  all  conditions  so  that  he  might  enter 
into  fellowship  with  all.  Our  Associations  and 
Churches  can  help  enormously  to  develop  a 
generation  of  those  who  will  be  capable  of 
entering  sympathetically  and  responsively  into 
the  struggles,  aspirations,  and  hopes  of  other 
peoples,  notably  of  those  most  backward  and 
disappointing.  The  international  will,  how¬ 
ever,  needs  development  among  us  quite  as 
much  as  the  international  heart.  I  have  heard 
many  sermons  on  the  text,  “Blessed  are  the 
peace  makers.”  I  think  the  emphasis  was 

[60] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


placed  on  the  wrong  word.  From  the  context 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  it  not  evident 
that  Christ  intended  to  place  the  emphasis  on 
another  word?  “Blessed  are  the  peace  mak¬ 
ers,3’  that  is,  those  who  use  their  wills,  those 
who  take  initiative,  those  who  not  only  seek 
to  understand  other  peoples  with  an  inter¬ 
national  mind,  and  feel  for  other  peoples 
with  an  international  heart,  but  also  with  an 
international  will  strive  to  promote  right  atti¬ 
tudes  and  relations  with  reference  to  other 
peoples. 

As  you  talk  with  some  men  you  receive  the 
impression  that  they  think  that  there  will  be 
some  discovery,  or  some  work  of  leadership, 
which  will  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  make  the 
world  a  safe  place  and  fill  it  with  good-will. 
The  sooner  we  disabuse  our  minds  of  this  super¬ 
ficial  view  and  settle  down  to  a  long,  compre¬ 
hensive,  thorough-going  educational  cam¬ 
paign  beginning  with  the  youth,  the  quicker  we 

shall  arrive  at  our  goal. 

*  _ 

What  the  world  needs  today  is  not  chiefly 
additional  external  arrangements  such  as  the 
League  of  Nations,  Family  of  Nations,  World 
Court,  arbitration  treaties  or  peace  congresses, 
or  what  is  tantamount  to  these  important 

[61] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

means  or  agencies.  Important  as  these  institu¬ 
tions  and  means  are,  far  more  fundamental 
and  necessary  is  it  to  get  inside  of  men  and 
change  their  outlook,  their  disposition,  their 
motives,  their  ambitions,  their  spirit;  for  out  of 
these  are  the  issues  of  international  life.  In  a 
word,  the  need  is  not  so  much  reconstruc¬ 
tion  as  regeneration.  The  process  of  filling 
the  world  with  good-will  is  a  superhuman 
work. 

In  vain  shall  we  look  to  the  non-Christian 
religions  or  to  irreligion  to  effect  these  impera¬ 
tively  needed  international  changes.  Leading 
teachers  of  Buddhism  with  whom  I  have  had 
conversations  within  a  year  frankly  raise  their 
hands  in  hopelessness  with  reference  to  the 
international  situation.  Hinduism  has  divided 
society  into  countless  closed  compartments  and 
outside  of  them  live  multitudes  of  untouch¬ 
ables,  the  very  shadow  of  whom  would  defile 
the  rest.  Mohammedanism  condemns  all 
womankind  to  an  inferior  position.  Again  we 
say,  “Thou,  O  Christ,  alone  hast  the  word  for 
international  life.5:> 

The  work  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association  on  behalf  of  students  now  assumes 
a  new  and  larger  meaning.  There  is  a  Ger- 

[62] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


man  proverb  to  the  effect  that  what  you  would 
put  into  the  life  of  a  nation  you  must  put  into 
the  schools.  Thus  our  universities  and  col¬ 
leges  constitute  our  most  strategic  battle¬ 
ground.  Any  idea  or  ideal  which  we  wish  to 
see  dominate  the  life  of  the  nation  must  first 
lay  strong  hold  on  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the 
students  who  tomorrow  are  to  become  the 
leaders  of  the  nations.  How  true  it  is  that  they 
teach  the  teachers,  preach  to  the  preachers,  and 
govern  the  governors.  Anything  which  we 
may  find  it  possible  to  do  to  strengthen  the 
hands  of  the  State  Committees,  of  the  Cana¬ 
dian  National  Council,  and  of  the  Inter¬ 
national  Committee  in  their  efforts  to  give 
Christ  the  central  place  in  these  seats  of  higher 
learning,  we  shall  do  if  we  are  wise. 

The  work  of  the  Association  in  the  cities, 
large  and  small,  likewise  in  the  towns  and  rural 
communities,  should  also  be  expanded  and 
strengthened  on  every  hand.  This  is  particu¬ 
larly  important  and  urgent  so  far  as  the  boys 
and  the  younger  men  are  concerned,  for  in 
their  case  we  are  dealing  with  the  vision¬ 
forming  period.  It  is  true  that  old  men  have 
visions  but  in  most  cases  these  visions,  if  they 
dominate  them,  were  received  in  the  days  of 

[63] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


their  youth.  We  are  also  dealing  with  the 
habit-forming  period  and  the  time  for  deter¬ 
mining  life  attitudes  and  tendencies.  These 
are  the  days  of  great  and  momentous  deci¬ 
sions.  It  is  high  strategy,  therefore,  to  con¬ 
centrate  our  best  thought  and  leadership  on 
this  most  plastic  and  potential  period.  It  is 
an  idle  dream  to  think  about  bringing  in  a  new 
world  through  the  activities  of  the  fragment 
of  time  that  remains  at  the  disposal  of  the  older 
and  retiring  generation ;  but  the  new  or  oncom¬ 
ing  generation  will  live  long  enough  to  effect, 
provided  they  are  given  the  right  direction  in 
the  years  immediately  at  hand,  the  profound 
and  permanent  changes  necessary  to  ensure 
peace,  stability,  and  good-will  among  all 
peoples. 

How  important  it  is  also  that  the  foreign 
program  of  the  North  American  Associations 
be  pressed  with  all  discernment  and  with  great 
energy.  On  the  principle  of  the  cantilever 
bridge,  we  should  push  forth  the  arm  of  our 
foreign  outreach  among  the  young  men  of 
Asia,  Africa,  Latin  America,  and  now  increas¬ 
ingly  of  Europe,  while  simultaneously  the 
other  arm  is  thrust  ever  deeper  and  deeper  back 
into  the  convictions  and  sacrificial  life  of  the 

[64] 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  SITUATION 


home  base.  The  foreign  expansion  of  the  As¬ 
sociations  of  Christendom  constitutes  the  great 
internationalism.  In  seeking  to  bring  the 
power  of  Christ  to  bear  on  the  most  influential 
classes  of  men  of  all  races  it  is  bringing  influ¬ 
ence  and  energy  to  bear  where  they  can  be  most 
directly,  widely,  and  advantageously  distrib¬ 
uted.  We  make  bold  to  say  that  there  is  no 
work  today  which  is  doing  more  to  relieve  the 
friction  points  of  the  world  and  to  promote 
kindly  and  cooperative  relations  among  men 
than  this  world-wide  program  of  the  Asso¬ 
ciations  and  the  great  missionary  movement  of 
which  it  is  a  part. 

In  and  through  all  that  the  Associations  seek 
to  accomplish,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  the 
real  transforming  influence  is  that  of  Christ 
Himself.  So  let  me  close  this  address  with 
the  dominant  note  of  my  continent-wide  jour¬ 
ney,  and  that  is  that  in  all  our  planning,  in  all 
our  speaking,  in  all  our  writing,  and  in  all  our 
living,  we  should  confront  men  and  boys  with 
the  Living  Christ.  It  was  said  of  Robert 
Burns  that  he  was  afraid  to  stand  before  Jesus 
Christ.  May  not  the  reason  have  been  that 
he  probably  said  to  himself,  “If  I  come  before 
this  central  figure  of  the  ages  and  of  the  eter- 

[65] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


nities  with  an  open  mind,  an  honest  heart,  and 
a  responsive  will,  it  probably  means  that  I  shall 
have  to  go  His  way ;  and  this  may  mean  that  I 
shall  have  to  change  my  life  both  within  and  in 
its  outer  relations”?  And  he  shrank  from  the 
implications.  Let  it  be  said  of  none  of  us  that 
we  are  afraid  to  expose  ourselves  to  Him  or 
that,  through  our  neglect,  the  young  men  and 
boys  of  our  day  are  not  led  to  fix  their  gaze 
upon  Him.  This  is  our  great  business  no  mat¬ 
ter  what  our  regular  calling.  If  we  confront 
others  with  Him  and  stand  before  Him  our¬ 
selves,  He  may  be  depended  upon  to  make  His 
own  impression.  It  will  be  a  profound  impres¬ 
sion,  it  will  be  a  transforming  impression,  it 
will  be  an  ineffaceable  impression;  because  it 
will  be  a  super-human  impression.  Why  be 
satisfied  with  simply  having  men  work  if  we 
may  ensure  the  bringing  to  bear  of  the  limitless 
influence  and  power  of  the  great  Fountain 
Head  of  spiritual  life  and  energy? 


[66] 


Ill 

HOW  TO  INCREASE  THE 
SPIRITUAL  VITALITY  OF 
THE  YOUNG  MEN’S 
CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION 


Ill 


How  to  Increase  the  Spiritual  Vitality 
of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association 

The  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
Movement  has  a  wonderful  past.  The  two 
generations  of  its  life  have  been  years  of  open¬ 
ing  and  entering  doors;  years  of  heroic  pio¬ 
neering  in  fifty  nations  on  every  continent; 
years  of  unwearying  seed-sowing,  watering, 
cultivating,  and  reaping;  years  of  unceasing 
proclamation  of  the  Eternal  Gospel;  years  of 
symmetrical  development  of  the  young  man¬ 
hood  and  boyhood  of  the  nations  by  minister¬ 
ing  to  all  sides  of  their  life ;  years  of  uncompro¬ 
mising,  aggressive,  and  triumphant  warfare 
against  the  forces  which  tend  to  blast  charac¬ 
ter  and  disintegrate  faith;  years  of  Christian 
strategy  and  statesmanship  as  shown  in  the 
laying  hold  for  Christ  of  key  positions  all  over 
the  world,  and  of  enlisting  for  the  Christian 
program  the  most  influential  classes  of  men; 

[69] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


years  of  spiritual  engineering — liberating, 
utilizing,  and  guiding  the  comparatively  latent 
spiritual  energies  of  young  men  and  boys; 
years  of  empire-building  in  terms  of  the  world 
and  of  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  years  of  construc¬ 
tive  achievement  both  human  and  divine ;  years 
of  mighty  signs  and  wonders  affording  ever- 
multiplying,  fresh  evidences  of  the  reality  and 
conquering  power  of  the  Living  Christ  in  and 
through  the  lives  of  men.  True  it  is  that  the 
Association  Movement  does  not  need  to  apolo¬ 
gize  for  its  well-nigh  four  score  years  thus 
crowded  with  glorious  life. 

Great  as  has  been  the  past  of  this  world-wide 
Brotherhood,  the  future  should  far  transcend 
it.  Any  lesser  conception  would  be  dishonor¬ 
ing  to  the  past  on  which  our  minds  from  time 
to  time  dwell  with  grateful  and  reverent  mem¬ 
ory.  Our  vastly  greater  and  every  growing 
numbers;  the  enormous  expansion  of  material 
resources;  the  high  development  of  organiza¬ 
tion;  the  full  and  ever  richer  experience  ac¬ 
cumulated;  the  momentum  acquired  through 
a  long-unbroken  series  of  victorious  achieve¬ 
ments;  the  deeper  understanding  of  our  field 
and  task,  and  the  sure  grasp  on  guiding  prin¬ 
ciples;  the  closer  coordination  of  the  work  of 

[TO] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


the  Association  with  the  other  great  construc¬ 
tive  forces  of  humanity,  especially  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Churches;  the  truly  enormous  widening 
of  opportunity  on  every  hand  at  home  and 
abroad ;  the  greatly  multiplying  influential  con¬ 
tacts  of  the  Association,  and  the  constantly 
deepening  confidence  in  its  providential  mis¬ 
sion;  the  vastly  greater  issues;  the  more  baf¬ 
fling  problems,  and  the  sterner  challenges 
which  press  upon  the  Associations  everywhere ; 
the  enlarged  expectations  of  the  Churches,  of 
the  nations,  and  of  mankind  in  general — all 
these  facts  and  factors,  all  these  influences  and 
forces  make  possible  a  future  immeasurably 
greater  than  the  past. 

The  war  work  of  the  Associations  alone 
necessitates  as  well  as  makes  possible  a  more 
wondrous  coming  day.  We  lost  ourselves  in 
unselfish,  patriotic,  and  Christian  ministry  to 
the  4,700,000  American  soldiers  and  sailors 
at  home  and  overseas,  and  in  service,  alone 
among  American  welfare  societies,  to  over 
twenty  million  men  in  Allied  armies  and 
navies  and  six  millions  of  prisoners-of-war  in 
both  Allied  and  enemy  countries.  Little  did 
we  think  that  as  an  organization  we  should  so 
soon  find  ourselves  with  larger  horizons,  larger 

[71] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


confidence,  larger  opportunities,  and  larger 
obligations.  It  is  true,  however,  that  the  war 
work  has  opened  to  us  ten  thousand  new  doors 
for  service  across  the  breadth  of  the  world. 

The  solemnizing  reflection  which  comes  to 
us  is  whether  the  plans  and  practices  of  the 
leaders  and  members  of  the  Associations  with 
reference  to  the  maintenance  and  development 
of  our  spiritual  life  and  energies,  are  commen¬ 
surate  with  the  widening  of  our  opportunities 
and  with  the  inevitable  demands  upon  our 
service.  We  do  well  to  remind  ourselves  that 
during  the  centuries  there  have  been  other 
Christian  Brotherhoods  which  have  risen  and 
then  perished  from  the  earth;  that  there  are 
organizations  now  existing  which  were  once 
strong,  vital,  and  largely  useful,  but  which  are 
now  mere  shells  without  vitality  and  power. 
We  could  have  no  more  rewarding  meditation 
and  reflection  at  this  hour  than  to  consider 
the  question,  “How  may  the  Association 
Movement  preserve  its  vitality,  contagious  en¬ 
thusiasm,  and  power  of  growth,  and  be  saved 
from  becoming  merely  formal  and  compara¬ 
tively  powerless  and  fruitless.” 

If  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
is  to  increase  its  spiritual  vitality  and  fruitful¬ 
ly] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 

ness,  it  must  maintain  at  all  costs  its  distinc¬ 
tively  Christian,  pronouncedly  evangelistic, 
and  aggressively  missionary  character.  This 
is  tantamount  to  saying  that  it  must  preserve 
its  clear  Christian  aim,  its  unshakable  Christian 
foundation,  and  its  genuinely  Christian  con¬ 
trol;  that  it  must  hold  in  proper  prominence  its 
Christian  program  and  be  animated  by  a  gen¬ 
uinely  Christian  spirit.  The  Association  must 
steadfastly  resist  the  danger  of  becoming  a 
mere  human  institution — in  a  general  sense 
religious  but  not  emphatically,  pervasively,  and 
contagiously  Christian.  This  essential  must 
never  be  compromised,  obscured,  or  abandoned 
for  the  sake  of  any  plausible  outward  success 
or  worldly  advantage ;  for  such  a  course  would 
mark  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Wherever  an 
Association  lacks  world-conquering  power,  it 
is  because  it  has  to  some  extent  been  conquered 
by  the  world. 

The  battle  today  is  not  over  mere  details 
and  externals,  but  relates  to  the  very  citadel  of 
our  faith — the  superhuman  character  of  Christ 
and  of  the  revelation  which  acquaints  us  with 
Him.  Without  a  divine  Christ  in  an  abso¬ 
lutely  unique  sense,  and  with  only  a  revelation 
which  differs  in  nothing  essential  from  the  lit- 

[73] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


erature  of  other  religions,  the  word  Christian 
loses  its  true  meaning.  A  prominent  educator 
has  recently  told  us  that  in  the  new  religion 
for  the  coming  day  there  will  be  no  deification 
of  remarkable  human  beings.  If  this  means 
anything,  it  means  that  the  honor  now  paid  by 
us  to  our  Lord  is  misplaced  and,  therefore, 
must  be  withdrawn.  With  this  you  and  I  take 
square  issue,  for  we  well  know  that  in  the 
power  of  His  Name  and  in  homage  and  loy¬ 
alty  to  His  Person  all  of  the  vital  and  endur¬ 
ing  victories  of  the  Association  have  been 
achieved. 

If  the  Association  Movement  is  to  preserve 
and  augment  its  spiritual  vitality,  it  is  abso¬ 
lutely  essential  that  its  leaders  and  controlling 
members  maintain  a  genuinely  personal  ex¬ 
perience  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  need  have  no 
fear  of  the  strength  of  the  positions  of  what 
we  might  call  the  prevailing  naturalism  op¬ 
posed  to  us,  but  well  may  we  be  solicitous  with 
reference  to  the  weakness  of  the  lives  of  so 
many  who  bear  the  Christian  name.  As  Wil¬ 
liam  James  affirms,  no  movement  “can  run 
itself  and  its  affairs  anonymously.”  The  char¬ 
acter  and  spirit  of  any  movement  rests  ulti¬ 
mately  with  its  leaders.  It  does  not  rise  or 

[74] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


maintain  itself  above  the  level  of  the  hidden 
life,  that  is  the  real  life,  of  its  leaders  and  guid¬ 
ing  members.  Therefore,  the  extensive  and 
intensive  program  of  the  Association  depends 
on  the  inner  development  of  those  in  charge. 

Well  may  we  ask  ourselves,  “Are  there  evi¬ 
dences  of  vitality  in  us  as  leaders?  Have  we 
the  abounding  life?  Are  men  and  boys  being 
saved  through  us?”  These  questions  are  asked 
in  no  cant  sense,  but  with  the  thought  that  we 
are  in  the  world  as  Christians  primarily  to  re¬ 
late  other  men  to  the  Living  Christ.  Are  we 
consciously  and  unconsciously,  by  example 
and  by  design,  lifting  others  to  higher  levels 
of  spiritual  apprehension  and  experience?  Are 
we  moving  men  mightily  to  lives  of  unselfish¬ 
ness?  Have  w^e  the  quality  of  spiritual  life  and 
the  habits  for  its  maintenance  which  we  would 
like  to  see  reproduced  among  the  youthful 
members  throughout  the  Movement?  Spiri¬ 
tual  vitality  comes  only  from  the  Source  of 
Vitality  Himself.  It  is  the  differentia  of 
Christianity  that  our  Lord  is  living  to  bring 
faith  and  holiness  into  the  lives  of  men.  It  is 
not  optional,  therefore,  but  obligatory  that  we 
who  bear  His  Name  preserve  vital  union  with 
our  Living  Lord. 


[75] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


If  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
is  to  continue  to  go  from  strength  to  strength 
as  a  Christian  Movement  and  as  a  world-wide 
force  for  helpfulness,  the  Associations  must 
be  dominated  and  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of 
service.  No  Christian  organization  has  ever 
succeeded  in  preserving  its  vitality,  still  less 
in  augmenting  it,  where  it  has  lived  unto  itself. 
To  serve  is  the  very  essence  of  Christianity. 
In  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  be  a  complete  Chris¬ 
tian  alone.  It  is  conceivable  that  one  might 
alone,  by  himself,  be  a  genuine  representative 
and  exponent  of  a  non-Christian  religion;  but 
Christianity  is  essentially  a  social  religion,  and 
to  be  truly  manifested  requires  application  of 
its  principles  and  spirit  to  human  relation¬ 
ships.  W e  learn  to  be  and  live  like  Christ  in 
the  process  of  giving  ourselves  to  others.  If 
we  as  leaders  of  the  Association,  therefore, 
discover  that  the  volume  of  voluntary  unselfish 
service  is  diminishing,  we  may  well  become 
alarmed;  for  it  means  that  the  existence  of  the 
Association  as  a  vital  force  is  threatened. 

We  need  today,  and  will  ever  need,  to  re¬ 
sist  the  tendency  and  subtle  peril  the  Associa¬ 
tion  might  have  to  become  a  selfish  club — a 
society  carried  on  chiefly  in  the  interests  of  its 

[76] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


own  members.  I  hope  increasing  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men  and  boys  will  throng  our 
gymnasiums  and  athletic  fields  to  acquire  and 
preserve  the  habits  which  ensure  the  finest  de¬ 
velopment  and  working  efficiency  of  the  body, 
and  to  learn  and  exhibit  the  standards  of  the 
best  sportsmanship  in  athletics.  The  Ameri¬ 
can  Associations  are  said  to  have  in  their  edu¬ 
cational  classes  more  men  and  boys  than  are 
to  be  found  in  the  colleges  of  the  seventy  lead¬ 
ing  Protestant  denominations  combined,  and 
this  number  should  steadily  grow.  May  the 
day  never  come  that  the  young  men  and  boys 
of  the  families  most  favored  socially  do  not  in 
the  Association  meet  on  a  democratic  level  and 
establish  enduring  friendships  with  young  men 
of  fewer  opportunities.  Above  all,  may  men 
and  boys  in  ever  increasing  numbers  come  to 
our  Associations  to  enrich  faith  and  to  develop 
genuine  Christian  character.  But  let  it  be  un¬ 
derstood  and  exemplified  that  we  enter  the 
Association  not  primarily  to  acquire  these 
great  benefits  for  ourselves,  but  chiefly  to  de¬ 
velop  our  full  personality  in  order  that  we  may 
render  larger  and  richer  service  to  our 
generation. 

The  salvation  of  the  Association  lies  in  un- 

[77] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

wearying  toil  for  the  good  of  others.  So  long 
as  it  persistently  does  all  that  it  can  to  bring 
in  the  reign  of  Christ  in  all  human  relation¬ 
ships,  so  long  there  will  spring  up  in  its  mem¬ 
bership  the  water  of  life,  irrepressible,  fresh, 
full  of  power.  Therefore,  let  us  as  leaders 
continue  in  season  and  out  of  season  to  sound 
out  by  word  and  by  contagious  example  the 
call  to  service.  Let  us  summon  our  active 
members,  one  and  all,  to  that  most  highly  mul¬ 
tiplying  work,  the  introducing  of  men  and  boys 
to  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  present  with  wisdom 
and  heroism  the  stern  challenge  to  social  serv¬ 
ice.  No  body  of  men  within  or  without  the 
Church  should  be  more  keen  to  hear  and  more 
quick  to  respond  to  the  cry  of  our  age  to  help 
meet  its  needs  in  the  dark  areas  of  social  in¬ 
justice  and  neglect.  With  great  clearness  and 
power  we  should  also  call  upon  men  to  extend 
the  limits  of  Christ’s  Kingdom  throughout  the 
non-Christian  world — to  minister  to  those  be¬ 
yond  our  sight  and  immediate  reach.  God  only 
knows  what  the  North  American  Associations 
owe  to  their  obedience  to  missionary  oppor¬ 
tunities.  During  these  recent  decades  which 
have  witnessed  their  greatest  accession  of  num¬ 
bers,  wealth,  and  prestige,  there  opened  before 

[78] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 

them  simultaneously  the  opportunity  of  the 
ages,  that  is,  the  chance  to  place  their  experi¬ 
ence  and  life  at  the  disposal  of  the  manhood 
and  boyhood  of  Asia,  Latin  America,  and 
Africa.  In  the  service  of  these  distant  lands, 
they  have  indeed  found  larger  vitality  and 
power  to  deal  with  the  needs  at  their  own  doors. 
The  deep  lesson  of  this  life-saving  experience 
must  never  be  lost.  Only  by  continually  seek¬ 
ing  and  improving  new  and  wider  opportu¬ 
nities  of  service,  can  we  ever  hope  to  maintain 
the  vitality  of  the  Association  Movement. 

If  the  Associations  of  North  America  are 
to  bring  in  the  larger  day  which  lies  before 
them  and  which  is  clearly  within  their  reach, 
they  must  ever  enlarge  their  plans  and  give 
themselves  to  greater  and  greater  achieve¬ 
ments.  The  rock  on  which  so  many  societies 
and  organizations  have  been  wrecked  has 
been  that  of  counting  themselves  as  having 
attained.  May  God  keep  out  of  the  leadership 
of  our  Movement  men  lacking  in  vision.  If 
we  are  to  enlist  and  command  the  following 
of  the  men  of  this  day,  particularly  of  the  on¬ 
coming  generation,  we  must  present  to  them 
stupendous  tasks  and  undertakings  vast 
enough  to  appeal  to  their  imagination;  other- 

[79] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

wise  we  do  not  challenge  and  win  the  men  of 
largest  vision  and  potentiality.  The  tasks  must 
be  difficult  and  exacting  enough  to  call  out 
their  latent  energies.  How  comparatively 
latent  are  the  hidden  powers  of  the  young 
men  and  boys  now  living!  The  program  must 
be  absorbing  enough  to  save  men  from  them¬ 
selves.  What  is  the  secret  of  emancipating  a 
man  from  selfishness?  No  man  becomes  un¬ 
selfish  simply  by  saying,  “Resolved,  that  I  will 
now  forget  myself.”  That  fixes  a  man’s  mind 
more  than  ever  on  himself.  The  best  and  the 
only  way  to  become  truly  unselfish  is  to  forget 
self  in  the  service  of  others  and  in  the  further¬ 
ance  of  great  unselfish  causes.  The  tasks  at 
hand  are  tragic  enough,  if  we  come  to  close 
grapple  with  the  ills,  the  evils  of  our  day,  to 
startle  us  all  from  indifference,  inertia,  love 
of  ease,  pleasure  and  softness,  from  growing 
habits  of  extravagance  and  luxury,  and  to 
save  us  from  dilettantism  and  from  becom¬ 
ing  academic,  theoretical,  and  unresponsive 
in  the  face  of  stern  realities.  Above  all, 
such  undertakings  and  programs  are  over¬ 
whelming  and  baffling  enough  to  drive  us  to 
God  for  a  deeper  acquaintance  with  Him  and 

[80] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


thus  to  facilitate  and  make  inevitable  our  be¬ 
coming  conductors  of  His  power. 

Movements  and  organizations,  like  men, 
must  learn  the  deep  meaning  of  the  Cross  and 
travel  with  Christ  that  way,  if  they  are  to  bring 
forth  the  largest  fruitage.  Jesus  Christ  took 
us  to  the  heart  of  the  secret  of  the  greatest  and 
most  enduring  achievement,  when  He  said, 
'‘Except  a  grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth 
and  die,  it  abideth  by  itself  alone ;  but  if  it  die, 
it  beareth  much  fruit.”  The  law  of  progress, 
growth,  and  vigorous  life  is  that  we  must  die 
to  self  in  order  truly  to  live;  we  must  lose 
our  lives  in  order  to  find  them.  The  way 
of  the  Cross  reaches  further  than  to  Calvary. 
It  involves  a  life  of  self-denial.  Spiritual 
movements  accomplish  their  greatest  service 
to  mankind  outside  their  own  boundaries.  The 
Association  will  be  no  exception  in  this  vital  re¬ 
spect.  We  who  guide  its  policies  and  activities 
should  ever  seek  to  let  the  Association  ideas, 
methods,  experiences,  forces,  and  inspira¬ 
tion  express  themselves  through  other  organ¬ 
izations  and  agencies,  especially  the  Churches, 
regardless  of  whether  or  not  the  Association 
receives  credit  or  is  recognized  as  their  source. 
We  must  let  ourselves  go  and  trust  ourselves 

[81] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


absolutely  to  that  most  expansive  principle 
proclaimed  and  illustrated  by  our  Lord, 
“Whosoever  would  be  first  among  you,  shall  be 
servant  of  all” — of  all ,  not  simply  of  the  Asso¬ 
ciation. 

If  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
is  not  only  to  hold  its  own  but  to  press  on  to 
a  future  far,  far  transcending  all  that  lies  in 
the  past,  there  must  be  a  constant  influx  of 
fresh  life  into  its  ranks  and  leadership.  This 
has  most  practical  and  immediate  significance 
for  us;  for  we  have  a  new  generation  to  win. 
While  we  have  made  most  encouraging  and 
reassuring  beginnings,  we  have  by  no  means 
won  for  Christ,  for  His  Church,  and  for  the 
Association  as  the  representative  of  the 
Churches,  the  remarkable  oncoming  genera¬ 
tion.  The  word,  oncoming,  is  possibly  mislead¬ 
ing  and  inadequate,  because  the  generation  I 
have  in  mind  has  already  arrived.  It  is  in  our 
very  midst.  I  mean  especially  those  who  to¬ 
day  are  from  eighteen  to  thirty  years  of  age. 
We  do  not  overlook  those  who  are  under 
eighteen,  for  we  all  recognize  their  claims  upon 
us  and  among  them  the  Association  is  accom¬ 
plishing  some  of  its  most  fascinating  and  hope¬ 
ful  achievements ;  nor  those  who  are  over 

[82] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


thirty,  for  how  true  it  is  that  many  of  the  men 
who  are  really  youngest  in  spirit  and  in  mani¬ 
festations  of  life  and  energy  are  far  older  in 
years  than  thirty. 

We  would,  however,  fix  attention  on  those 
from  eighteen  to  thirty  years  of  age  because 
we  believe  that  within  that  compass  is  to  be 
found  the  most  remarkable  generation  of 
young  men  the  world  has  ever  known.  As  a 
life-long  student  of  history  and  of  the  achieve¬ 
ments  of  men,  I  know  of  no  generation  which 
has  been  exposed  to  such  intense  influences, 
calculated  to  affect  and  change  profoundly  the 
psychology,  the  outlook,  the  convictions,  and 
the  purposes  of  young  men  and  boys.  It  in¬ 
cludes  those  young  men  who  were  eighteen  to 
twenty-five  at  the  time  of  the  selective  draft 
shortly  after  America  entered  the  war  and  who 
tonight  are  twenty-three  to  thirty  years  of  age. 
From  their  number  went  nearly  all  of  the  two 
million  who  served  overseas  in  the  American 
Army,  also  nearly  all  of  the  two  million  who 
were  training  in  the  camps  at  home  and  who 
desired  to  go  overseas  but  did  not  do  so  be¬ 
cause  of  the  war’s  closing,  and  also  the  larger 
part  of  the  seven  hundred  thousand  who 
joined  the  American  Navy.  One  of  those  who 

[83] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

served  as  a  soldier  overseas  made  the  arresting 
remark,  “I  have  had  it  out  with  death.”  He 
spoke  not  only  for  himself  but  for  virtually 
all  those  who  joined  the  army  and  navy  and 
served  at  home  or  abroad.  What  did  this  ex¬ 
pression  mean  to  them?  They  had  studied 
probabilities,  they  knew  the  startling  death 
rate  among  the  armed  forces  of  the  different 
countries  engaged  in  the  struggle.  Each  one 
of  them  had  said  to  himself,  “I  have  one  life. 
Is  this  cause  worthy  of  it?”  The  thinking  and 
resolving  involved  in  these  two  simple  sen¬ 
tences  carries  a  young  man  through  the  most 
profound  changes  through  which  any  one  can 
pass.  It  involves  the  revaluation  of  every¬ 
thing.  In  such  a  process  money  comes  to  be 
regarded  as  of  little  value.  The  voice  of  fame 
seems  indistinct  and  far  away.  One  must  dis¬ 
criminate  among  many  and  conflicting  claims. 
The  decision  at  which  most  of  this  vast  num¬ 
ber  arrived  was  one  of  high  patriotism,  of  de¬ 
votion  to  a  great  unselfish  cause. 

The  other  element  included  in  the  ages 
eighteen  to  thirty  was  composed  of  those  who 
when  America  entered  the  war  were  from  thir¬ 
teen  to  seventeen  and  are  now  eighteen  to 
twenty-two.  In  those  early  days  they  were 

[84] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


in  the  most  plastic  stage.  On  their  sensitive 
brains  were  imprinted  ineffaceably  the  most 
deeply  moving  stories  and  scenes  of  heroism, 
of  unselfishness,  of  vicariousness,  of  devotion 
even  unto  death,  in  the  interest  of  a  great 
cause.  These  two  groups  constituting  the  mil¬ 
lions  of  young  manhood  within  the  field  we 
have  in  view  simply  must  be  won  and  be  given 
an  adequate  outlet  for  all  the  impulses  and 
purposes  liberated  within  their  lives  during 
those  never-to-be-forgotten,  tragic,  and  fateful 
years  at  the  end  of  the  world  struggle. 

It  will,  however,  be  no  easy  task  to  win  this 
generation  for  Christ,  for  the  Divine  Society, 
the  Church,  founded  by  Him,  and  for  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  as  the 
representative  and  exponent  of  the  Churches 
united. 

May  I  attempt  to  characterize  them?  They 
are  keenly  dissatisfied  with  the  past.  You  will 
agree  with  me  that  they  have  reason  to  be. 
Moreover,  they  are  dissatisfied  with  much  of 
the  present.  And  here  again  I  am  not  so  sure 
but  they  are  largely  right.  As  a  rule,  they  are 
ultra-critical.  What  do  they  not  criticize? 
They  are  examining  all  foundations,  question¬ 
ing  all  sources  of  authority,  criticizing  all 

[85] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

standards  and  social  sanctions.  Is  this,  how¬ 
ever,  not  more  encouraging  and  hopeful  than 
indifference  or  apathy?  They  are  a  most  alert 
and  enquiring  generation.  They  hate  sham 
and  hypocrisy.  They  are  responsive  to  the 
note  of  reality.  They  tend  to  go  to  extremes. 
But  are  we  not  living  in  a  day  when  it  is  highly 
important  that  we  have  men  who  will  break 
out  of  the  old,  rigid  grooves  of  inertia  and 
chart  new  courses  for  mankind?  Did  not 
Jesus  Christ  go  to  the  greatest  extreme  in 
order  to  bring  the  world  to  God? 

Again  I  say  we  of  the  Young  Men’s  Chris- 
tion  Association  must  win  this  generation.  We 
must  do  so  because  it  is  the  very  genius  of  a 
Y oung  Men’s  Association  to  do  so.  Anything 
else  would  make  our  name  and  emblem  a  mis¬ 
nomer.  The  most  distinctive  thing  about  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  is  the 
prominence  of  the  element  of  youth  in  all  its 
life.  In  fact  its  life  depends  upon  the  fresh 
tides  of  boyhood  and  young  manhood  surg¬ 
ing  into  its  veins;  otherwise  the  end  draws 
near.  Moreover,  this  new  generation  has 
certain  other  traits  most  attractive  and  com¬ 
pelling.  What  are  some  of  these  traits? 
Hopefulness,  so  much  needed  in  the  face  of 

[86] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


such  widespread  pessimism;  idealism,  when  so 
many  have  come  down  from  the  mountains  of 
high  aspiration;  vision,  when  so  many  are 
looking  down  at  the  muckrake  and  are  think¬ 
ing  only  of  material  things;  the  spirit  of 
adventure,  for  a  day  of  warfare  in  all  ranges 
and  relationships  of  the  life  of  mankind.  An¬ 
other  trait  is  that  attitude  and  habit  of  mind 
from  which  have  come  many  of  the  inventions 
and  great  creative  works  of  men.  Surely  we 
cannot  have  these  traits  too  largely  manifested 
in  our  Brotherhood. 

Not  long  since  I  read  an  essay  under  the 
striking  caption,  “The  Lost  Radiance  of  the 
Christian  Religion.”  The  author,  Dr.  Jacks, 
the  editor  of  the  Hibhert  Journal ,  tries  to 
bring  out  that,  whereas  Christianity  beyan  as 
a  religion  of  the  youth,  it  is  now  waning,  be¬ 
cause  losing  its  appeal  to  the  youth.  I  quite 
agree  with  the  first  part  of  the  essay,  which 
insists  that  Christianity  began  as  a  religion  of 
the  youth,  because  its  Founder  laid  down  His 
life  as  a  young  man,  many  of  His  apostles  were 
chosen  as  young  men,  and  His  religion  made 
a  wonderful  appeal  to  the  youth  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  I  cannot,  however,  accept  the  other 
statement  to  the  effect  that  Christianity  in 

[87] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


these  days  is  not  making  so  strong  an  appeal 
to  the  youth.  As  I  read  what  he  wrote  in  this 
connection,  I  said  to  myself,  “Dr.  Jacks  ap¬ 
parently  does  not  know  of  the  Student  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  of  the  American 
Universities  and  colleges  which  now  has  in  its 
membership  one  hundred  thousand  young  men, 
most  of  whom  are  under  twenty.  He  has  not 
heard  of  the  Hi  Y  Clubs  and  of  the  Employed 
Boys’  Brotherhood.  He  has  not  traveled  with 
me  recently  in  Oriental  lands  where  the  very 
flower  of  the  boyhood  and  young  manhood  of 
the  nations  is  today  found  in  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association.” 

Nevertheless  we  cannot  have  in  our  Asso¬ 
ciations  too  much  of  the  radiance  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  religion,  the  spirit  of  youth.  These  young 
men  need  Christ,  the  Church,  and  the  Associa¬ 
tion,  and  have  a  right  to  these  inestimable 
benefits.  What  hope  is  there  for  the  Christian 
Church  and  its  institutions  unless  this  most  po¬ 
tential  generation  becomes  identified  vitally 
with  them?  And  what  of  the  maimed,  broken, 
and  imperiled  world?  The  men  now  over 
thirty  will  not  be  able  to  effect  the  extensive, 
profound,  and  permanent  changes  impera¬ 
tively  needed,  for  the  simple  reason  that  most 

[88] 


SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


of  them  will  not  live  long  enough.  It  is  the 
new  generation  which  must  carry  through  the 
stupendous  undertaking  of  ushering  in  the  new 
day  and  the  new  order. 

What  is  the  secret  of  winning  this  new  gen¬ 
eration?  I  can  express  it  quite  simply  and 
briefly.  The  forces  of  Christianity  must  come 
to  this  supremely  important  task  with  united 
plans  and  concerted  efforts.  The  undertaking 
is  so  vast,  so  difficult,  and  so  urgent  that  noth¬ 
ing  short  of  this  will  avail.  Happily  the  Asso¬ 
ciation,  with  its  interdenominational  platform, 
personnel,  and  program,  makes  possible  the 
meeting  of  this  condition.  Next,  the  program 
of  all  our  Associations  singly,  as  well  as  in 
their  corporate,  national  capacity,  must  be  re¬ 
vised  in  the  light  of  experience  and  of  the  best 
that  religious  education  and  psychology  have 
to  offer,  that  the  Association  methods  and  mes¬ 
sage  may  be  adapted  to  enlist  the  following  of 
this  particular  generation. 

To  this  end  a  third  factor  takes  on  larger 
significance  than  ever,  and  that  is  that  we  must 
organize  and  set  like  to  work  for  like ;  that  is, 
unite  those  within  our  number  who  are  now 
approximately  within  the  ages  of  eighteen  to 
thirty  for  the  express  purpose  of  winning  for 

[89] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

the  Association  and  its  program,  and  above 
all  for  its  Lord,  the  men  and  boys  of  their 
own  age.  In  recognition  of  this  principle, 
the  Association  has  ever  been  most  success¬ 
ful  in  winning  men  to  its  membership  and 
to  its  unselfish  undertakings.  Men  of  corre¬ 
sponding  ages  are  on  the  level;  they  under¬ 
stand  each  other  and  each  other’s  language; 
they  have  fought  on  the  same  battle  fields 
within  the  range  of  the  body  or  of  the  imagina¬ 
tion;  they  have  common  temptations,  ambi¬ 
tions,  and  aspirations ;  they  have  the  same  un¬ 
answered  questions  in  the  realm  of  morals  and 
religion;  they  share  the  same  visions  and  are 
responsive  to  the  same  appeals;  and,  there¬ 
fore,  they  will  ever  have  largest  access  to  one 
another  and  largest  influence  with  one  another. 
Finally,  and  of  supreme  importance,  we  must 
confront  these  men  with  the  Living  Christ. 
Did  not  Christ  Himself  say,  “I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me.” 
This  includes  men  within  the  ages  eighteen  to 
thirty,  as  well  as  those  under  eighteen  and 
those  over  thirty.  He  is  the  supreme  and 
irresistible  magnet.  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord 
of  Lords.  Let  us  bow  down  in  reverence  and 
go  forth  to  bring  others  under  His  sway. 

[90] 


IV 

THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  WORKER 


IV 


The  Conflict  of  the  Christian  Worker 

If  we  are  to  confront  men  and  boys  with  the 
Living  Christ,  we  ourselves  must  stand  before 
Him.  We  must  realize  in  our  personal  experi¬ 
ence  what  the  Psalmist  was  able  to  say,  “I  have 
set  the  Lord  always  before  me.”  If  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  is  to  be  a  pro¬ 
nouncedly  Christian  and  spiritual  organiza¬ 
tion,  we,  its  leaders,  must  be  genuinely  spiri¬ 
tual  men.  The  stream  does  not  rise  higher 
than  its  source.  The  Association  will  be  no 
exception  to  this  law.  It  is  supremely  im¬ 
portant,  therefore,  that  we  examine  our  man¬ 
ner  of  life  to  make  sure  that  our  attitude  and 
practices  are  calculated  to  develop  and  main¬ 
tain  in  us  Christ-like  lives. 

I  have  been  asked  if  I  would  not  with  frank¬ 
ness  and  freedom  point  out  the  spiritual  perils 
in  the  lives  of  leaders  of  the  Association,  both 
secretaries  and  laymen,  and  likewise  indicate 
practical  constructive  measures  for  counter- 

[93] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


acting  and  overcoming  these  dangers.  This  I 
will  seek  to  do,  with  keen  consciousness  of  my 
own  limitations.  I  will  present  no  straw  men 
and  deal  with  no  theoretical  points  but  con¬ 
fine  myself  solely  to  those  spiritual  perils 
which  have  been  experienced  in  my  own  per¬ 
sonal  life  or  which  have  been  revealed  by  men 
in  our  Movement  who  have  bared  their  hearts 
to  me.  If  we  are  to  wage  successful  warfare 
against  our  enemies,  we  must  locate  them  and 
must  thoroughly  understand  their  devices. 
There  is  nothing  whatever  to  be  gained  by 
minimizing  the  resources  of  our  spiritual  ene¬ 
mies,  their  number,  their  strength,  and  their 
malignity. 

At  the  very  beginning,  among  our  spiritual 
perils,  should  be  mentioned  aimlessness.  How 
many  Christian  workers  there  are  who  have 
no  definite  aim  or  plan  for  their  own  spiritual 
culture,  for  the  increase  of  their  spiritual 
knowledge  and  discernment,  for  their  spiritual 
enrichment,  for  the  augmenting  of  their  spiri¬ 
tual  power  and  fruitfulness!  If  a  man  does 
not  have  certain  accepted  and  observed  laws 
for  the  care  of  his  body,  he  will  soon  find  him¬ 
self  on  the  rocks  physically.  If  a  worker  has 
no  definite  goal  or  program  for  his  mental 

[94] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

widening,  deepening,  and  strengthening,  he 
will  inevitably  go  to  seed  intellectually  and  be¬ 
come  negligible  as  an  intellectual  force.  If 
one  has  no  plan  for  his  personal  or  domestic 
finances,  he  and  others  related  to  him  are 
bound  sooner  or  later  to  find  themselves  in 
economic  embarrassment  or  confusion.  The 
same  is  emphatically  true  with  reference  to 
the  ethical  and  spiritual  nature  of  man.  This 
most  important  part  of  our  lives  is  not  de¬ 
veloped  and  enriched  through  magic.  A 
genuine  spiritual  life  is  not  the  product  of 
mere  chance.  This  great  result  must  be  pre¬ 
ceded  by  an  adequate  cause.  We  do  not  drift 
into  Christ-likeness.  Either  by  design  and 
definite  plan  we  work  our  way  against  the 
tides  to  deeper  and  deeper  realization  of  Christ 
and  His  truth  and  into  transforming  experi¬ 
ence  of  Him,  or  we  unconsciously  drift  away 
from  His  presence  and  are  cut  off  from  His 
vitalizing  power. 

Superficiality  is  likewise  one  of  the  great 
enemies  to  the  spiritual  life  of  Christian 
workers.  How  few  of  them  impress  one  as 
sinking  shafts  down  into  the  deep  things  of 
God.  My  fear  is  lest  we  as  workers  and,  there¬ 
fore,  as  Associations  may  be  producing  Chris- 

[95] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

tian  activity  and  organization  faster  than  we 
are  producing  Christian  faith  and  Christian 
experience.  If  so,  do  we  not  all  recognize  that 
that  means  sooner  or  later  spiritual  bank¬ 
ruptcy?  The  haunting  question  is,  “Are  the 
discipline  of  our  lives,  the  culture  of  our  souls, 
and  the  thoroughness  of  our  processes  such  as 
will  enable  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Associ¬ 
ation  to  bear  the  terrific  strain  to  which  it  is 
subjected  in  this  modern  age,  and  to  meet  the 
limitless  opportunity  which  confronts  it  on 
every  hand?”  Within  the  reach  of  every  one 
of  us  are  inexhaustible  depths  of  spiritual  wis¬ 
dom  and  knowledge.  F or  each  one  of  us  there 
are  unworked  leads  of  untold  spiritual  wealth. 
A  priceless  inheritance  has  been  laid  up  for  us. 
Why  lead  such  shallow  and  impoverished 
lives?  Why  not  possess  our  possessions? 

Cant  or  hypocrisy  today,  as  ever,  constitutes 
a  grave  spiritual  danger.  Christ  directed 
against  it  His  most  scathing  denunciations. 
Perhaps  leaders  of  the  Association  should  be 
especially  on  their  guard  at  this  point  and  for 
this  reason.  The  genius  of  the  leader  of  the 
Association,  whether  he  be  a  local  or  a  travel¬ 
ing  worker,  is  that  of  setting  other  men  to 
work.  This  means  that  most  of  our  time  is, 

[96] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

or  should  be,  spent  in  planning  work  for  other 
men;  in  organizing,  guiding,  and  coaching 
them;  in  teaching  and  preaching;  in  inspiring 
others  to  action  and  to  the  performance  of  high 
and  important  duties.  The  danger  is  that,  un¬ 
less  we  are  most  vigilant  with  reference  to  the 
cultivation  of  our  own  spiritual  lives,  there  will 
be  created  a  great  chasm  between  what  we 
enjoin  upon  others  and  what  we  ourselves 
actually  are  and  do.  How  shall  we  pre¬ 
vent  such  disparity  between  preaching  and 
practice,  between  profession  and  possession? 
The  secret  of  most  helpful  contagious  example 
and  of  most  highly  multiplying  leadership  lies 
in  preserving  at  all  costs  a  life  of  transparent 
sincerity  or  reality. 

Closely  akin  to  the  peril  just  mentioned  is 
that  of  formality.  It  is  possible  for  the  busy 
or  thoughtless  worker  to  become  so  accustomed 
to  the  sacred  terms  or  expressions,  and  to  the 
spiritual  associations  and  processes,  that  no 
longer  as  he  contemplates  these  realities  is  he 
moved,  as  he  once  was,  with  a  sense  of  awe, 
wonder,  and  reverence.  If  that  is  the  case  with 
any  of  us  we  should  become  alarmed,  for  it  is 
a  sure  indication  of  a  drifting  away  from 
Christ.  Again,  it  is  possible  for  a  Christian 

[97] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

to  become  so  familiar  with  the  work  of  evil 
that  no  longer  as  he  witnesses  the  terrible  in¬ 
roads  and  havoc  of  the  forces  of  sin  and  shame 
is  he  profoundly  moved,  as  he  once  was,  with 
emotions  of  revulsion  and  anger,  or  stimulated 
to  aggressive  warfare  against  such  enemies  of 
manhood  and  boyhood.  Such  a  callous  state 
should  cause  one  serious  concern.  Can  you 
imagine  J esus  Christ  ever  regarding  with  com¬ 
posure  or  indifference  any  of  the  cruel  and  sad 
effects  of  sin?  Remember  the  Puritan  para¬ 
dox,  “With  increasing  holiness  grows  the  sense 
of  sin.”  If  sin  does  not  seem  more  sinful  to 
us  now  than  it  did  six  months  ago,  we  should 
indeed  be  startled.  Jesus  Christ  multiplies 
sins.  What  I  mean  is  that  under  the  influence 
of  His  perfect  example,  under  the  blaze  of  His 
searching  teachings,  and  under  the  application 
of  His  unerring  principles,  things  which  be¬ 
fore  we  did  not  regard  as  sinful  come  to  stand 
out  as  heinous  sins. 

Possibly  the  most  deadly  peril  to  the  life  of 
the  Christian  is  that  of  spiritual  pride.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  the  man  who  is  under  the 
spell  of  this  danger  does  not  know  it,  will  not 
believe  it,  and  in  fact  resents  any  such  sug¬ 
gestion.  The  Christian  worker  about  whom  I 

[98] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

am  most  solicitous  is  the  one  who,  as  he  hears 
what  I  say  in  this  connection,  comments, 
“What  the  speaker  is  now  saying  does  not  con¬ 
cern  me  at  all.”  “Let  him  that  thinketh  he 
standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall,”  not  the  man 
who  is  conscious  that  he  is  slipping,  not  the 
man  who  knows  that  he  is  on  the  edge  of  the 
precipice,  but  the  man  who  is  quite  certain  that 
he  is  standing  securely;  let  that  man  in  par¬ 
ticular  take  heed  lest  he  fall.  Most  of  the 
great  downfalls  of  which  I  have  heard  were 
cases  of  men  who  prided  themselves  on  their 
security. 

The  sins  of  the  tongue  must  not  be  over¬ 
looked  among  the  serious  perils.  Think  of  the 
prevalence  of  exaggeration  or  deceit  or,  put¬ 
ting  it  quite  bluntly,  lying,  in  the  speech  even 
of  men  active  in  Christian  service.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  reports  written  or  oral  which  do  not 
square  with  the  facts;  over-statements  in 
speech  or  writing;  presentation  of  half-truths 
or  lack  of  frank  acknowledgment  of  ignorance 
in  the  teaching  of  Bible  classes  or  the  guiding 
of  open  forums.  Then  there  is  flattery.  In 
this  work  of  the  Association  we  as  leaders  have 
to  enlist  the  cooperation  of  many  men — some 
of  them  to  give  money,  others  to  give  time, 

[99] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


others  to  lend  the  weight  of  their  influence. 
The  danger  is  that  in  order  to  win  the  help  of 
these  men  we  may  say  things  to  their  faces 
that  do  not  square  with  what  we  say  behind 
their  backs,  or  with  what  we  honestly  think 
about  them. 

Unkind  criticisms  and  uncharitable  judg¬ 
ments  regarding  others  constitute  another 
prevalent  sin  of  the  tongue.  One  of  my  friends 
says  that  he  considers  such  belittling  and  un¬ 
dermining  remarks  about  others  the  besetting 
sin  of  Christian  workers.  It  certainly  does  no 
good  whatever  to  the  person  who  thus  speaks; 
on  the  contrary  it  develops  in  him  uncharitable¬ 
ness,  unfairness,  and  un-Christlikeness.  It 
often  works  lasting  injury  to  the  person  about 
whom  he  speaks  because  that  person  is  not 
present  to  answer  back  or  correct  any  unfair  or 
wrong  statement.  It  is  the  most  unsportsman¬ 
like  sin  that  a  man  can  commit — the  stabbing 
of  a  man  in  the  back,  or  in  the  dark.  Such  a 
practice  is  not  tolerated  in  business.  It  ruins  a 
man  in  politics.  How  such  sins  must  grieve 
the  heart  of  our  Saviour  on  whose  bps  neither 
guile  nor  any  other  sin  was  ever  found.  Can 
we  wonder  at  the  language  of  St.  James,  “The 
tongue  can  no  man  tame.”  No  man  can  tame 

[100] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


it,  but  the  Living  Christ  can.  Nor  do  we  won¬ 
der  that  the  same  writer  points  out  the  strategy 
of  the  conquest  of  this  unruly  member  when  he 
indicates  that  if  it  be  brought  into  subjection, 
a  man  can  then  control  his  whole  personality. 

Commenting  on  the  sins  of  the  tongue  re¬ 
minds  one  that  there  come  times  every  day 
when  the  Christian  should  speak  and  when  not 
to  speak  means  that  we  are  out  of  touch  with 
Christ.  Frequently  we  ought  to  speak  the 
word  of  warning  to  the  man  or  boy  whom  we 
see  drawing  near  the  edge  of  the  precipice. 
We  ought  to  sound  the  word  of  protest  when 
sin  rears  its  head,  and  like  our  Lord  never  let 
its  devilish  plans  and  activities  go  unrebuked. 
We  ought  to  speak  the  word  of  guidance  to 
those  who  are  in  danger  of  not  recognizing 
opportunities  for  service  or  of  not  discovering 
the  great  golden  leads  of  spiritual  enrichment. 
We  ought  very  often  to  speak  words  of  en¬ 
couragement  and  appreciation  to  those  who 
are  bearing  heavy  burdens  and  to  those  who 
are  seeking  to  perform  difficult  and  important 
tasks.  Thus  to  use  the  tongue  is  to  follow  the 
example  of  our  Lord. 

Secret  sin  jeopardizes  and  destroys  the 
power  and  fruitfulness  of  any  Christian 

[101] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


worker.  One  day  I  had  to  be  party  to  calling 
for  the  resignation  of  a  prominent  worker,  one 
who  had  been  signally  used  in  evangelistic 
work,  because  he  had  fallen  into  a  life  of  im¬ 
purity.  What  a  tragedy — having  preached  the 
Gospel  to  others,  himself  a  castaway!  If  we 
are  to  wage  a  triumphant  warfare,  we  must 
have  no  untaken  forts  in  the  rear.  The  fact 
that  our  defeats  and  slavery  may  be  concealed 
or  unknown  to  others  adds  only  to  the  tragedy 
and  pathos  of  the  situation.  Thank  God  the 
distinctive  mission  of  Christ  is  to  liberate 
captives ! 

Let  me  now  call  attention  to  spiritual  star¬ 
vation  as  the  cause  of  most  of  the  evils  which 
hinder  the  life  of  many  a  Christian  worker. 
The  most  pathetic  sight  which  meets  my  gaze 
every  day  in  every  place  I  visit  is  that  of  Chris¬ 
tian  men  distributing  the  bread  of  life  with 
emaciated  hands.  They  are  busy  trying  to 
feed  others,  but  they  themselves  are  really 
starving.  What  lack  of  foresight,  because  in 
the  long  run  they  do  not  succeed  in  helping 
others  as  much  as  they  would  were  they  them¬ 
selves  properly  nourished.  Even  Plato  says, 
“The  granary  must  be  filled  if  the  hungry  are 
to  be  fed,”  and  Christ  said,  “For  their  sakes  I 

[102] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

sanctify  myself.”  Dwell  a  moment  on  the  ex¬ 
ample  of  our  Lord  in  this  vital  respect.  Think 
of  Him  as  rising  in  the  morning  while  it  was 
yet  dark  and  going  out  into  the  desert  place 
to  commune  with  the  Heavenly  Father — “for 
their  sakes.”  Think  of  Him  going  out  of  the 
noisy,  busy,  needy  city  night  after  night  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives  “as  His  custom  was”  for  the 
purpose  of  spiritual  realization  and  renewal 
“for  their  sakes.”  What  presumption  for  us 
to  think  that  with  starving  and  devitalized  lives 
we  can  render  our  best  service  to  the  hungry 
lives  all  about  us. 

Not  to  preserve  a  sufficiently  large  and  open 
channel  between  our  own  lives  and  the  Foun¬ 
tain  Head  of  Spiritual  Vitality — the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ — stands  in  the  way  of  the  largest 
unselfish  influence  and  leadership  of  many  and 
many  a  worker.  One  of  the  words  of  Christ 
which  means  most  to  me  is  this:  “From  within 
him  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water”;  or 
better  rendered,  “Out  of  your  inmost  selves 
shall  gush  torrents  of  living  water.”  Some  of 
you,  like  myself,  have  visited  desert  countries. 
I  recall  now  one  exhausting  march.  Our  party 
rose  and  had  breakfast  before  sunrise  and 
started  on  its  way  over  the  sands  and  rocky 

[103] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


hills.  As  the  sun  mounted  in  the  heavens  the 
heat  became  almost  unendurable.  By  noon  we 
could  hardly  continue  on  our  way.  Suddenly 
we  came  upon  an  oasis,  in  the  midst  of  which 
there  was  a  bubbling  spring  with  gushing 
streams  of  cool  water  clear  as  crystal.  It 
refreshes  me  as  I  think  of  it.  “Out  of  your 
inmost  selves  shall  gush  torrents  of  living 
water/’  into  the  thirsty  lives  all  about  us 
and  out  into  the  desert  places  which  were 
intended  to  blossom  as  the  rose.  I  remind 
you,  however,  that  if  the  torrents  of  liv¬ 
ing  water  are  to  gush  forth  from  us,  we  our¬ 
selves  must  drink  deeply  at  the  fountain.  As 
Mr.  Moody  used  to  say  to  us  at  Northfield, 
“We  are  all  leaky  vessels;  we  need  frequently 
to  be  refilled.”  May  we  constantly  hear  and 
heed  the  gracious  invitation  of  our  Lord,  “If 
any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and 
drink.”  Then,  for  you  will  recall  the  context 
that  the  words  almost  immediately  follow,  “out 
of  your  inmost  selves  shall  gush  torrents  of 
living  water.” 

Not  to  prolong  the  list  of  spiritual  dangers, 
let  me  mention  the  most  comprehensive  of  all, 
the  one  that  includes  all  those  already  men¬ 
tioned  as  well  as  those  which  have  not  been 

[104] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

named — not  putting  spiritual  things  first.  I 
am  constantly  meeting  men  who  give  their 
bodies  three  meals  each  day  and  yet  who  argue 
that  they  do  not  have  time  to  give  their  spiri¬ 
tual  nature  one  unhurried,  assimilative  meal 
daily.  They  condemn  themselves  with  their 
own  words.  I  say  to  them,  “Suppose  you  omit 
each  day  one  meal  and  devote  the  time  thus 
saved  to  communion  with  God  and  meditation 
upon  and  appropriation  of  His  truth.”  Those 
who  have  done  so  tell  me  that  it  resulted  in 
making  them  so  much  more  conscientious  in 
the  use  of  their  time  and  in  the  planning  of 
their  day  that  they  still  found  time  to  have 
three  physical  meals  each  day.  Moreover, 
workers  have  said  to  me  that  they  could  not 
find  time  to  keep  the  Morning  Watch,  that 
is,  to  begin  each  day  recollectedly  with  God  in 
prayer  and  Bible  study;  and  yet  in  the  next 
sentence  in  answer  to  my  question  they  have 
said,  “Yes,  we  read  the  morning  paper.” 
Show  me  the  man  who  begins  the  day  with  the 
Morning  Watch  who  does  not  likewise  find 
time  later  to  read  the  morning  paper.  I  wish 
I  could  add  that  the  converse  is  always  true, 
namely,  that  the  man  who  begins  the  day  with 
his  morning  paper  always  thereafter  finds  or 

[105] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


takes  time  to  keep  the  Morning  Watch.  Let 
ns  avoid  tricking  ourselves.  God  is  not 
mocked.  Let  us  not  stand  in  our  own  light. 
Let  us  not  dig  our  own  graves  spiritually. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  positive  side  of  the 
subject  where  I  always  prefer  to  dwell.  Be¬ 
fore  proceeding,  however,  to  the  constructive 
suggestions  on  how  to  counteract  and  overcome 
these  dangers,  let  me  congratulate  you  who 
are  beset  behind  and  before  with  such  enemies 
arrayed  against  us  in  the  heavenly  warfare. 
Some  one  may  ask,  “Why  congratulate  us?” 
I  answer,  “For  the  reason  that  St.  James  said, 
‘Count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  manifold 
temptations.’  Likewise,  for  the  reason  that 
St.  Peter  doubtless  had  in  mind  when  he  said, 
‘Greatly  rejoice,  though  now  for  a  little  while, 
if  need  be,  ye  have  been  put  to  grief  in  mani¬ 
fold  trials.’  For  the  reason  also  that  led  St. 
Paul  to  say,  ‘A  great  door  is  opened  unto  me, 
and  there  are  many  adversaries.’  Yes,  and 
for  the  same  reason  which  all  of  us  have  discov¬ 
ered  in  the  pathway  of  genuine  spiritual  war¬ 
fare,  that  our  spiritual  enemies  and  our  spiri¬ 
tual  perils  call  out  our  latent  powers  and 
constitute  the  drill  ground  for  strong  charac¬ 
ter  and  triumphant  faith,  deepen  our  acquaint- 

[106] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


ance  with  Christ  and  afford,  within  the  range 
of  our  personal  experience  evidences  of  His 
conquering  might.” 

First  among  the  constructive  suggestions  let 
me  urge  that  each  one  of  us  have  generous  and 
far-sighted  plans  for  the  maintenance  and  de¬ 
velopment  of  our  spiritual  life.  I  am  con¬ 
stantly  meeting  men  whose  plans  for  their 
spiritual  culture,  if  they  have  any  plans  at  all, 
cannot  in  any  sense  be  characterized  as  gen¬ 
erous;  certainly  not  in  scope  and  content  nor 
in  the  time  and  quality  of  attention  devoted  to 
their  execution.  Rather  might  they  be  char¬ 
acterized  as  niggardly,  miserly,  mean,  and  un¬ 
worthy.  How  unworthy  they  are  of  our  great 
Lord,  of  our  inexhaustibly  rich  resources,  of 
the  indescribable  needs  of  men  to  whom  we  are 
to  minister,  of  the  sublime  program  of  the 
Christian  religion,  of  the  great  days  in  which 
we  are  living,  and  of  the  stupendous  issues 
which  are  challenging  us! 

These  plans  should  also  be  far-sighted. 
Here  again  as  many  men  discuss  their  plans 
for  furthering  spiritual  growth  and  fruitful¬ 
ness,  one  receives  the  impression  not  of  far¬ 
sightedness  but  of  living  from  hand  to  mouth. 
A  man  snatches  a  little  enrichment  today  from 

[107] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


some  source,  several  days  elapse  and  he  avails 
himself  of  an  opportunity  for  spiritual  help 
from  some  unexpected  quarter.  Other  days 
drift  by  and  under  the  influence  of  some 
stranger,  it  may  be,  he  receives  a  fresh  impulse 
Godward.  All  of  this  is  good,  but  does  not 
take  the  place  of  forward-looking,  orderly, 
comprehensive  planning  for  the  symmetrical, 
consistent  development  of  one’s  spiritual  sensi¬ 
bilities  and  powers.  One  serious  aspect  of  such 
inadequate  plans  is  that  we  are  not  prepared 
for  emergencies  and  crises,  and  life  is  made 
up  largely  of  what  we  commonly  think  of  as 
emergencies  and  crises.  To  be  prepared  for 
sudden  deeds  and  for  meeting  grave  situations 
and  large  opportunities  which  are  sure  to  be 
thrust  upon  us,  we  must  take  long  views  and 
patiently  accumulate  reserves.  Many  a  man 
is  more  prudent  and  shows  more  forethought 
in  the  care  of  his  automobile  and  makes  better 
provision  for  its  requirements  than  for  the  de¬ 
mands  which  are  sure  to  be  made  on  his  own 
spiritual  energies  and  leadership. 

The  point  just  emphasized  leads  me  to 
recommend  that  each  Christian  worker  ob¬ 
serve  an  occasional  quiet  day.  By  this  is  meant 
the  going  apart,  from  time  to  time,  for  a  whole 

[108] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

day  or  half-day,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
finding  out  where  we  actually  are  spiritually 
and  discerning  whither  we  are  tending,  also  to 
review  and  revise  plans  and  practices  for  fur¬ 
thering  our  spiritual  growth  and  usefulness.  I 
belong  to  two  groups  of  workers  each  one  of 
which  goes  apart  for  a  day  once  each  year  to 
have  fellowship  in  thought  and  prayer  concern¬ 
ing  our  spiritual  state  and  obligations.  What 
do  I  not  owe  to  the  days  spent  with  these  two 
circles  when  we  share  the  deepest  things  of 
life  ?  Much  as  I  owe  to  them,  I  owe  still  more 
to  the  practice  which  I  am  here  emphasizing, 
namely,  that  of  breaking  away  entirely  from 
the  presence  of  men  and  shutting  oneself  in 
alone  with  God  and  His  truth  for  purposes  of 
self-examination,  prolonged  reflection,  com¬ 
munion,  and  resolution.  In  reading  Hanna’s 
“Memoirs  of  Dr.  Chalmers,”  that  great 
preacher  of  Scotland,  I  discovered  that  for 
years  he  had  the  practice  of  spending  a  day 
each  month  in  this  vital  mamier.  That  ex¬ 
plains  the  secret  of  his  shaking  the  great  city 
of  Glasgow  and  exerting  an  influence  felt  there 
to  this  day. 

Let  each  one  at  all  costs  observe  the  Morn¬ 
ing  Watch.  What  is  meant  by  this  habit? 

[109] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

It  means  beginning  each  day  recollectedly  with 
God  in  the  meditative  reading  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  in  prayer,  and  in  being  silent  unto  God. 
Notice,  the  beginning  of  every  day  in  this  way, 
not  every  other  day,  and  not  simply  the  days 
when  it  is  easiest  to  do  so.  Most  of  us  have 
discovered  that  the  days  when  we  find  it  most 
difficult  to  begin  in  this  way  are  the  days  when 
we  are  most  likely  to  need  the  particular  help 
which  comes  from  such  a  practice.  Some  of 
you  may  have  heard  me  speak  on  the  subject 
of  the  Morning  Watch  in  your  college  days  or 
at  some  religious  convention,  or  you  may  have 
seen  the  pamphlet  I  wrote  which  has  passed 
through  many  editions  and  has  been  translated 
into  many  languages.  The  other  day  a  man 
asked  me  whether  if  I  were  revising  this 
pamphlet  I  would  change  it.  In  reply  I  told 
him  that  I  would  not  modify  it  in  any  essen¬ 
tial  respect.  In  the  light  of  experience  and 
observation  one  may  say  with  conviction  that 
there  is  no  habit  more  calculated  to  preserve 
the  sense  of  reality  in  faith,  to  maintain  and 
augment  spiritual  energy,  and  to  prepare  one 
for  recognizing  and  heeding  dangers  and  op¬ 
portunities  than  that  of  beginning  each  day  in 
this  way.  John  Wesley  wrote  on  the  fly-leaf 

[110] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


of  his  Bible  the  words  “Live  Today.”  One 
may  wisely  place  beneath  them,  “Begin  the 
day  with  God.”  The  man  who  heeds  both  in¬ 
junctions  cannot  drift  far  away  from  his  Lord. 

Each  man  must  fight  for  his  prayer  life.  The 
more  sacred  and  potential  a  spiritual  practice 
or  observance  is,  the  more  do  our  spiritual 
enemies  seek  to  rob  it  of  reality  and  make  of 
it  a  mere  form.  Prayer,  that  is,  actual  com¬ 
munion  with  the  Living  God,  is,  or  should 
be,  the  greatest  reality  judged  by  effects  in 
us  and  through  us.  And  yet,  have  you  not  at 
times  found  yourself  on  your  knees  nominally 
in  the  act  of  prayer  and  yet  not  conscious  of 
the  words  you  were  uttering,  still  less  of  the 
Being  to  whom  you  should  be  addressing  your 
words?  This  is  not  prayer  but  formality,  the 
great  enemy  of  prayer.  David  was  able  to 
say,  “I  give  myself  unto  prayer.”  He  gave 
not  simply  his  tongue  but  his  consciousness, 
his  whole  attention,  his  personality,  himself, 
unto  this  unutterably  important  spiritual 
exercise.  Every  now  and  then  some  worker 
unburdens  himself  to  me  deploring  the  fact 
that  prayer  has  little  or  no  meaning  to  him, 
that  he  cannot  discover  that  it  changes  his 
life  or  affects  his  influence  on  others.  Some 

[111] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

of  them  even  confess  that  as  a  result  of  this 
unfortunate  experience  they  have  virtually 
given  up  praying.  Have  not  all  persons  who 
have  experienced  the  greatest  helpfulness  from 
prayer  discovered  the  wisdom  and  necessity 
of  attuning  their  souls  unto  God  before  prayer, 
or  reflecting  before  prayer  on  the  meaning  of 
it  all — that  is,  to  Whom  am  I  now  going  to 
speak?  What  is  His  character?  What  is  His 
disposition?  What  are  His  resources?  What 
have  His  ways  ever  been?  Why  do  I  seek 
His  face?  With  what  motive?  These  ques¬ 
tions  suggest  what  is  meant  by  preparation  of 
soul.  An  invaluable  help  in  preparation  for 
prayer  is  the  reading  meditatively  certain 
psalms,  or  flights  of  the  prophets,  or  words  of 
Christ,  or  apostrophes  of  St.  Paul,  or  visions 
of  the  Book  of  Revelation.  Certain  poems,  or 
hymns,  or  contacts  with  nature,  similarly 
facilitate  coming  into  a  realization  of  God’s 
presence  and  of  actual  communion  with  Him. 

We  also  need  to  learn  the  lesson  which  the 
Quakers  or  Friends  have  to  teach  us.  It  is 
their  custom  after  audible  prayer,  as  well  as 
under  other  circumstances,  to  listen  to  what 
God  has  to  say  to  them.  “My  soul  be  thou 
silent  unto  God.”  We  do  well  to  remember 

[112] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


that  prayer  is  not  monologue  but  dialogue. 
Two  must  participate  if  there  is  to  be  real  com¬ 
munion.  Too  often  our  prayers  are  limited 
to  what  is  suggested  by  the  words  “Hear, 
Lord,  for  Thy  servant  speaketh,”  instead  of 
including  not  only  speaking  unto  God  but  also 
exemplifying  what  is  indicated  in  the  words, 
“ Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth.” 

Some  have  asked  me  to  recommend  two  or 
three  books  which  will  be  of  the  most  practical 
help  to  one’s  prayer  life.  Among  three  or 
four  hundred  books  and  pamphlets  on  prayer 
which  I  have  had  occasion  to  examine  at  one 
time  or  another,  I  would  recommend  the  fol¬ 
lowing:  “Secret  Prayer,”  by  Moule,  late 
Bishop  of  Durham.  This  little  book  is  packed 
with  wholesome  counsel  based  on  a  life  of  great 
reality  in  prayer.  “The  Still  Hour,”  by  Aus¬ 
tin  Phelps,  which  for  a  time  was  out  of  print, 
is  again  available.  This  most  penetrating  book 
exposes  the  weaknesses  and  shams  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  prayer  practices  of  many  and 
gives  invaluable  constructive  suggestions. 
Need  I  emphasize  that  more  recent  classic, 
Fosdick’s  “The  Meaning  of  Prayer,”  which 
has  enriched  the  lives  of  so  many  thousands  in 
our  day?  Only  a  few  months  ago  there  ap- 

[113] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


peared  a  book  which  I  cannot  too  strongly 
recommend,  entitled  Lord,  Teach  Us  to 
Pray,”  by  Alexander  Whyte,  the  great 
preacher  of  Free  St.  George’s  in  Edinburgh. 
The  book  is  made  up  of  a  number  of  his 
remarkable  sermons  on  prayer  which  have 
been  assembled  since  his  death.  They  are 
truly  dynamic  and  quickening.  Considering 
those  to  whom  I  am  speaking,  it  hardly  seems 
necessary  to  call  attention  to  books  dealing 
with  the  apologetic  and  philosophical  aspect 
of  the  subject. 

It  would  be  worth  while  for  each  one  of  us 
to  have  always  near  at  hand  one  of  the  great 
devotional  books  of  the  world  to  ^hich  we  may 
devote  spare  fragments  of  time.  If  a  travel¬ 
ing  worker,  have  it  in  the  top  of  your  bag.  If 
stationed  at  one  post,  have  the  book  in  some 
place  where  you  will  frequently  see  it  and  be 
reminded  of  it.  Thus  in  the  course  of  a  year, 
by  utilizing  even  the  little  vacant  spaces  of 
time,  you  can  read  a  few  of  the  books  that  will 
never  die. 

My  own  impression  is  that  the  greatest  de¬ 
votional  books  are  those  of  other  centuries. 
What  books  have  come  out  during  the  last 
generation  which  we  would  put  in  a  group  with 

[114] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

such  works  as  the  following?  “The  Practice 
of  the  Presence  of  God,”  by  Brother  Law¬ 
rence;  “The  Serious  Call,”  by  Law;  “The 
Confessions  of  St.  Augustine”;  “Pilgrim’s 
Progress,”  by  Bunyan;  “Holy  Living,”  by 
Jeremy  Taylor.  At  the  same  time  there  have 
appeared  within  a  generation  certain  books 
which  in  the  light  of  their  influence  on  others 
may  profitably  engage  our  best  attention.  For 
example,  “Revival  Lectures,”  of  Charles  G. 
Finney.  Or  think  of  the  commentary  on  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John  by  Marcus  Hods.  Henry 
Drummond  told  me  once  that  he  owed  more 
to  Marcus  Dods  than  to  all  of  his  other  teach¬ 
ers.  One  does  not  wonder  at  this  after  spend¬ 
ing  months  poring  over  this  most  vital  exposi¬ 
tory  work — a  work  which  brings  vividly  before 
us  on  almost  every  page  the  Living  Christ. 
On  this  present  journey  I  have  read  with 
greatest  profit  the  latest  book  of  Rufus  Jones, 
“Spiritual  Energies  in  Daily  Life.”  While 
using  thought  and  language  true  to  the  latest 
word  of  science,  philosophy,  and  psychology, 
it  holds  with  sure  grasp  the  unchanging  facts 
of  our  faith. 

Let  us  count  that  day  lost  in  which  we  do 
not  expose  our  lives  to  the  Word  of  God. 

[115] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

Chrysostom  insists  that  the  cause  of  all  our 
evils  is  in  our  not  knowing  the  Scriptures. 
Wise  are  we,  therefore,  if  we  keep  turned 
upon  our  inner  lives,  out  of  which  are  the 
issues  of  life,  this  great  search-light.  To 
change  the  figure  and  to  enlarge  our  concep¬ 
tion,  think  of  the  Bible  as  a  great  spiritual 
dynamo  releasing  spiritual  light,  heat,  and 
energy.  It  brings  to  mind  the  words  of  De 
Quincey,  “All  literature  is  divided  into  the 
literature  of  knowledge  and  the  literature  of. 
power.”  Judged  by  the  vast  and  accumulat¬ 
ing  evidence  of  the  centuries  as  to  its  vitalizing 
energy  and  transforming  influence  in  the  lives 
of  individuals  and  of  society,  the  Bible  is  pre¬ 
eminently  the  literature  of  power.  In  this 
connection  it  is  well  to  recall  that  the  writers 
of  the  devotional  books  to  which  attention  has 
been  called,  and  of  the  many  others  which 
might  be  named  by  all  of  us,  derived  their 
principal  illumination  and  inspiration  for  writ¬ 
ing  as  they  did  from  real  and  prolonged  ex¬ 
posure  to  the  words  which  are  indeed  spirit 
and  vitality.  Why  be  satisfied  with  going 
solely  or  chiefly  to  secondary  sources?  Why 
not  go  to  the  original  fountain?  These  things 

[116] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


ought  we  to  have  done  and  not  to  have  left  the 
other  undone.  The  study  of  our  Scriptures 
makes  us  one  with  Christians  of  all  ages. 

Let  us  avail  ourselves  conscientiously  and 
faithfully  of  the  privileges  of  the  Christian 
Church.  This  Divine  Society  was  established 
by  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  to  hold  in 
prominence  His  mission  and  to  bring  to  bear 
His  principles  and  life  on  all  human  life  and 
relationships.  Not  without  serious  loss  can  any 
Christian  neglect  its  ministrations  and  obliga¬ 
tions.  How  little  we  appreciate  the  priceless 
benefits  which  result  from  coming  under  the 
influence  of  the  regular  teaching  and  preach¬ 
ing  functions  of  the  ministry.  As  a  traveling 
worker  possibly  I  am  in  a  position  to  realize 
the  loss  of  this  privilege  as  those  who  are  en¬ 
gaged  in  local  work  cannot  so  well  do.  Think 
of  that  sacramental  observance  established  by 
our  Lord  not  only  to  remind  His  followers 
through  all  the  centuries  of  the  profound 
meaning  of  His  death,  but  also,  possibly  quite 
as  much,  of  His  living  presence.  A  prominent 
Christian  worker  confessed  to  me  not  long  ago 
that  over  a  year  had  elapsed  since  last  he  par¬ 
took  of  the  Holy  Communion.  What  im¬ 
poverished,  what  shallow,  what  lonely  lives  we 

[117] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


live  in  contrast  with  lives  that  should  be  char¬ 
acterized  by  ever-deepening  and  ever-expand¬ 
ing  fellowship  with  Christ. 

We  should  recognize  the  vital  relation  which 
exists  between  our  bodily  states  on  the  one 
hand  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  profit  derived 
from  our  spiritual  exercises.  Contrast,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  the  help  you  receive  from  the  Morning 
Watch  on  the  morning  following  a  sleepless 
night  when  you  bring  to  this  potential  practice 
a  tired  or  restless  mind  and  dulled  sensibilities, 
with  what  you  receive  on  the  morning  when 
you  awake  refreshed  in  body,  with  mind  clear 
and  alert,  with  memory  retentive,  and  with 
your  spiritual  sensibilities  quickly  responsive. 
Have  we  not  discovered  that  there  is  all  the 
difference  in  the  world?  The  great  apostle  en¬ 
joins  us  to  present  our  bodies  “a  living  sacri¬ 
fice”  to  the  Lord;  not  half  alive.  To  this  most 
important  office  of  our  lives,  that  of  holding 
communion  with  the  most  high  God  and  of 
seeking  to  deepen  our  acquaintance  with  Him, 
we  should  bring  our  bodies  at  their  best.  We 
of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association, 
with  the  Red  Triangle  as  our  emblem,  should, 
above  all  others,  illustrate  this  distinctive  as¬ 
pect  of  the  underlying  philosophy  of  our  pro- 

[118] 

.  / 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

gram  which  recognizes  the  unity  of  man. 
This  idea  takes  on  deeper  meaning  when  we 
think  of  the  Incarnation — Christ  taking  on  the 
form  of  man.  He  seeks  today  to  clothe  Him¬ 
self  with  men.  Our  bodies  thus  in  a  very  real 
sense  are  the  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In 
high  efficiency  we  should  develop  them;  with 
reverence  we  should  treat  them;  and  all  their 
powers  should  be  made  tributary  to  achieving 
the  highest  and  holiest  ends. 

Again,  a  man  cannot  be  a  Christian  alone. 
Every  one  who  bears  Christ’s  name  is  designed 
to  be  a  witness-bearer  to  Christ,  and,  therefore, 
definitely  to  extend  His  sway  over  the  lives  of 
individuals  and  of  society.  To  be  quite  con¬ 
crete,  each  one  of  us  should,  within  the  sphere 
of  his  daily  calling  and  opportunity,  be  striv¬ 
ing  not  only  by  life,  but  also  and  increasingly 
by  word,  to  introduce  others  to  Him  and  to 
bring  them  under  His  rule.  I  do  not  know 
how  it  is  with  you,  but  nothing  fetches  me  up 
more  sharply  and  quickly  with  reference  to 
my  religious  thinking  and  spiritual  life  than 
to  try  to  present  Christ  to  one  who  does  not 
believe  on  Him.  How  it  searches  one’s  own 
heart  and  tries  one’s  own  motives!  How  it 
leads  us  to  weigh  our  words  as  to  whether  we 

[119] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


mean  precisely  what  we  say!  How  it  drives 
us  to  the  Bible!  How  it  sends  us  to  our  knees 
with  a  sense  of  our  own  limitations! 

A  few  years  ago,  as  my  administrative  re¬ 
sponsibilities  became  greatly  enlarged,  I  said 
to  myself,  if  I  am  spending  twelve  or  fourteen 
hours  a  day  in  administrative  work — that  is,  in 
thinking  out  policies  and  plans  for  others,  in 
enlisting  and  coaching  others,  in  raising  funds 
to  multiply  the  number  of  workers,  in  co¬ 
ordinating  and  combining  the  forces — surely 
this  will  take  the  place  of  that  for  which  there 
is  no  time, — direct  contacts  with  men  individ¬ 
ually  and  in  groups  with  reference  to  leading 
them  into  the  Christian  life.  Plausible  though 
this  was,  I  discovered  that  I  was  fast  becoming 
professionalized,  merely  a  machine  or  engine 
driver,  and  was  in  grave  spiritual  danger. 
Then  I  reverted  to  the  old,  and  I  cannot  but 
believe  more  Christ-like,  practice  of  combining 
with  other  responsibilities  and  more  indirect 
methods  of  affecting  the  lives  of  men,  the  tak¬ 
ing  advantage  of  opportunities  to  minister  to 
the  spiritual  needs  of  men  one  by  one  or  in 
larger  companies.  I  am  confident  that  your 
experience  will  be  the  same  as  mine,  that,  if 
we  are  to  preserve  a  sense  of  the  great  reali- 

[120] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 

ties,  we  must  identify  ourselves  with  individual 
men — sinful  men,  struggling  men,  lonely  and 
neglected  men,  men  wandering  in  the  mazes 
of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  men  on  the  verge  of 
grave  peril  or  standing  in  hesitation  before 
doors  of  great  opportunity,  and  strive  to  relate 
them  to  Christ  and  His  program. 

Moreover,  if  we  are  to  preserve  our  own 
faith  as  a  living  reality  and  commend  it  to  dis¬ 
cerning  and  inquiring  men,  we  must  seek  not 
only  to  introduce  men  to  the  Lord  of  Life 
and  bring  them  singly  under  His  actual  sway, 
but  also,  with  wisdom  and  heroism,  apply  the 
unerring  principles  and  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
to  the  un-Christlike  social  conditions  of  modern 
life  and  to  all  other  human  relationships.  One 
reason,  and  a  sufficient  reason,  explaining  why 
certain  of  our  workers  here  and  there  are  fail¬ 
ing  to  bring  conviction  to  the  unbelieving,  the 
indifferent  and  the  inquiring,  is  that  they  do 
not  rise  in  protest  against  conditions,  practices, 
and  policies  which  are  in  direct  contradiction 
to  the  teachings  and  example  of  Christ  and  do 
not  by  prophetic  advocacy  and,  if  need  be,  by 
sacrificial  effort,  use  their  full  influence  and 
power  to  bring  about  thorough  and  permanent 
changes.  This  point  will  take  on  larger  mean- 

[121] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


ing  in  the  years  directly  before  us.  It  is  not 
putting  it  too  strongly  to  say  that  Christians 
are  to  be  on  trial  in  these  coming  fateful  and 
creative  years  possibly  more  so  than  during 
the  recent  years  of  upheaval.  Which  way  shall 
we  go  ?  Christ  is  the  way,  as  well  as  the  truth 
and  the  life.  At  times  it  will  be  a  lonely  way 
and  it  will  lead  to  rugged  heights,  but  the 
pathway  of  sacrificial  service  is  the  pathway 
of  leadership  and  of  ultimate  victory. 

If  we  are  to  win  out  over  all  our  enemies, 
we  must  preserve  a  right  attitude  toward  our 
temptations.  Need  I  say  that  this  means  an 
attitude  of  uncompromising  warfare?  Our 
lives  must  be  a  challenge  and  not  a  truce. 
Every  man  of  us  is  tempted  and  ever  will  be. 
Our  temptations  are  multiplying  as  we  grow 
older,  as  our  opportunities  widen  and  as  our 
responsibilities  increase;  yes,  and  as  we  ad¬ 
vance  in  spirituality.  There  is  large  meaning 
in  that  phrase,  “the  spiritual  hosts  of  wicked¬ 
ness  in  the  heavenly  places.”  Notice,  not  here 
and  there  an  isolated  enemy,  but  hosts  and 
armies,  dominions  and  powers  oppose  us.  The 
secret  of  consistent  and  complete  victory  is  a 
simple  one.  Each  temptation  begins  with  a 
thought.  Christ  was  tempted  in  all  points  like 

[122] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


as  we  are,  yet  without  sin.  The  secret  of  His 
not  sinning  was  that  He  met  each  temptation 
as  it  presented  itself  and  never  permitted  it  to 
find  foothold  or  lodgment  in  His  mind  or 
heart. 

This  suggests  the  inestimable  value  of  the 
habit  of  ejaculatory  prayer.  Every  student  of 
Latin  here  at  once  catches  the  meaning — a 
dart  shot  up,  that  is,  looking  to  God  instantly 
wherever  we  are,  whether  alone  or  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  others.  The  moment  a  wrong  thought 
or  incitement  presents  itself  we  look  away  from 
ourselves,  away  from  our  enemies  to  our  Liv¬ 
ing  Lord.  I  used  to  think  that  to  pray  I  had 
to  wait  until  my  customary  hour  of  prayer, 
perchance  the  last  thing  at  night  when  I  could 
kneel  down  and  speak  to  God.  Or  I  thought 
that  to  pray  I  must  get  away  from  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  other  people  so  that  I  could  talk  aloud 
to  God.  Later,  when  I  learned  the  meaning 
of  ejaculatory  prayer,  I  came  to  see  that  often 
the  most  effective  prayers  consist  simply  of  a 
look — a  look  away  from  confidence  in  our¬ 
selves  to  faith  in  our  living,  present  Lord. 
Let  me  repeat  that  word  of  the  Psalmist, 
“Mine  eyes  are  ever  toward  the  Lord;  for  He 
shall  pluck  my  feet  out  of  the  net.”  Notice 

[123] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


his  eyes  were  not  fixed  on  the  net,  for  that 
might  have  disconcerted  or  unnerved  him,  but 
on  the  Lord,  the  source  of  courage,  energy, 
and  victory.  Do  we  not  now  see  what  the 
Apostle  meant  when  he  exhorted  the  Christian 
to  pray  without  ceasing?  Unmistakably  he 
had  in  mind  our  acquiring  and  preserving  that 
attitude  of  openness  and  responsiveness  to  God 
and  looking  unto  Him. 

On  my  first  visit  to  Japan  I  spent  a 
memorable  morning  with  one  of  the  greatest 
missionaries  of  modern  times,  Dr.  Greene.  I 
asked  him  some  thirty  or  forty  questions  and 
wrote  down  quite  fully  his  answers.  Were  I 
at  liberty  to  print  them,  it  would  constitute  a 
really  wonderful  document.  The  last  question 
I  asked  him  was,  “Dr.  Greene,  what  is  the 
greatest  thought  you  ever  had,  judged  by  its 
effects  on  yourself,  and  so  far  as  you  can  tell, 
on  others  through  you?” 

He  reflected  quite  a  while  and  then  replied, 
“If  I  may  express  it  in  the  language  of  the 
writer  of  the  psalm — ‘The  Lord  is  at  my  right 
hand.5  ” 

As  I  have  pondered  again  and  again  this 
simple  and  pregnant  word,  the  more  its  won¬ 
derful  content  and  adequacy  have  impressed 

[124] 


THE  CONFLICT  OF  THE  WORKER 


themselves  upon  me.  It  brings  to  mind  the 
same  thought  voiced  by  St.  Paul,  “The  Lord 
stood  by  me,  and  strengthened  me,”  And  this 
calls  up  the  words  of  our  Lord,  “He  that 
sent  me  is  with  me;  He  hath  not  left  me  alone.” 
This  thought  of  the  immanence  of  God  is  the 
one  I  would  leave  with  you.  In  a  true  sense 
it  gathers  up  all  that  I  have  tried  to  say,  as  I 
have  drawn  not  only  on  personal  experience 
but  on  that  of  Christians  the  world  over  in 
whom  I  have  full  confidence.  If  the  Lord  is, 
as  He  unquestionably  is,  at  the  right  hand  of 
each  one  whose  heart  is  right  toward  Him, 
then  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  loneliness, 
no  such  thing  as  discouragement,  no  such  thing 
as  defeat,  no  such  thing  as  atrophy  or  want 
of  vitality,  and,  therefore,  no  such  thing  as 
unproductivity  or  small  spiritual  results.  In 
conscious  relation  to  the  Living  Christ,  the 
Fountain  Head  of  spiritual  energy  and  vital¬ 
ity,  lies  the  deep  but  open  secret  of  abundant 
life,  abounding  service,  and  undying  influence. 


[125] 


V 

WHAT  HAS  HAPPENED  TO 
THE  FAITH  OF  YOUNG  MEN 
THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD 
IN  THE  PAST  FEW  YEARS  ? 


V 


What  Has  Happened  to  the  Faith  of 
Young  Men  Throughout  the  World 
in  the  Past  Few  Years? 

My  recent  travels  and  other  contacts  with 
different  parts  of  the  world  have  convinced 
me  that  there  has  come  a  revival  of  interest  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  Christian  faith.  The 
great  upheaval  of  the  World  War  and  the 
many  political  and  social  revolutions  and  dis¬ 
turbances  which  have  characterized  the  post¬ 
war  period,  have  served  to  affect  profoundly 
the  religious  life  of  men.  One  is  not  unmindful 
of  the  fact  that  the  war  experiences  and  the 
disillusionments  of  the  subsequent  years  have 
had  a  most  unfavorable  effect  on  the  faith  of 
many — leaving  some  in  a  state  of  confusion 
and  uncertainty,  others  in  pessimism  or 
despair,  and  still  others  indifferent  and  callous 
to  the  claims  of  religion.  Nevertheless  a  study 
of  the  intellectual,  social,  and  spiritual  move¬ 
ments,  tendencies,  and  attitudes  among  youth 

[129] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


all  over  the  world  has  left  on  my  mind  a  most 
reassuring  and  hopeful  impression.  Among 
students  and  other  inquiring  young  men,  both 
in  the  Orient  and  in  the  Occident,  there  are 
new-thought  movements,  renaissance  move¬ 
ments,  new-youth  movements.  While  each  of 
these  manifestations  of  thought  activity  has  its 
own  distinctive  characteristics,  all  of  them  re¬ 
veal  certain  common  traits  such  as  dissatisfac¬ 
tion  with  the  past,  the  spirit  of  searching  in¬ 
quiry,  and  a  serious  determination  to  bring  in 
a  better  day.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  in 
all  time  there  has  ever  been  such  widespread 
and  deep  interest  in  religion.  Wide  and  care¬ 
ful  observers  have  been  deeply  impressed  by 
the  changes  which  the  faith  of  men  is  under¬ 
going.  The  question  arises,  What  has  hap¬ 
pened  to  the  faith  of  young  men  in  these  recent 
years  ? 

Faith  has  been  and  is  being  purified.  The 
Great  Plague  of  London  in  1665  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  a  great  fire,  which,  terrible  visitation 
though  it  was,  cleansed  the  city  of  unsanitary 
and  deadly  conditions  that  had  fostered  the 
pestilence.  So  the  intense  testing  of  spirit  and 
the  widespread  suffering  to  which  men  have 
been  subjected,  have  unmistakably  served  to 

[130] 


THE  FAITH  OF  YOUNG  MEN 

cleanse  the  lives  of  many.  Uncleanliness/ sin-; 
ful  indulgence,  selfishness  are  being  burned 
away.  They  cannot  stand  before  wounds,  dis¬ 
eases,  agonies,  loss,  sorrow,  and  death.  Like¬ 
wise  faith  is  being  purified  seven  times,  as  it 
were,  in  fire.  The  past  ten  years  have  been  the 
most  searching  time  modern  Christianity  has 
known.  “It  is,”  to  use  the  word  of  a  Russian 
priest,  “as  if  the  Day  of  Judgment  had  come  to 
earth.”  As  a  result  of  the  hardships,  the  test¬ 
ings,  and  the  judgments  of  these  trying  years, 
faith  is  being  purified  of  superstition,  of  the 
flimsy,  of  the  formal  and  the  conventional. 
The  pure  gold  and  precious  stones  abide.  As 
a  discerning  writer  in  The  Outlook  has  ob¬ 
served,  “God  is  never  so  impressively  present 
as  when  men  are  driven  back  from  false  goals 
by  fire  and  tempest.” 

Faith  has  been  and  is  being  simplified. 
Young  men  today  may  not  believe  so  many 
things  as  they  thought  they  did  a  decade  ago, 
but  the  things  they  believe,  they  actually  do 
believe;  that  is,  they  hold  them  with  a  sure 
grasp.  You  place  a  man  before  machine  guns 
or  under  the  hail  of  shrapnel,  and  he  casts 
aside  the  non-essential.  The  same  is  true  when 
men  find  themselves  in  the  days  of  heaving 

[131] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

foundations,  of  revolutions,  and  of  social 
changes,  or  in  the  presence  of  famine  and  pesti¬ 
lence.  In  hours  of  supreme  testing,  the  ulti¬ 
mate  facts  alone  count.  Under  such  conditions 
a  man  distinguishes  between  the  primary  and 
essential  in  matters  of  faith,  and  in  what  he 
comes  to  regard  as  secondary,  temporary,  vari¬ 
able,  and  local.  Thus  we  find  many  a  young 
man  giving  up  man-made  theologies  and  purely 
human  speculations.  They  question,  likewise, 
formal  and  dogmatic  Christianity.  Questions 
of  life  are  reduced  to  their  final  simplicity:  Is 
there  a  God  ?  Can  He  help  me  in  my  struggles 
and  in  my  efforts  to  build  a  nobler  and  more 
useful  life?  How  can  I  find  Him?  How  may 
Christ  become  a  reality  to  me?  Men  are  thus 
being  driven  from  externals  to  the  center — to 
the  Bible,  to  the  New  Testament,  to  Christ 
Himself — the  very  heart  of  Christianity. 

Faith  has  been  and  is  being  centered  and 
established  in  the  personality  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Never  have  other  powers  and  influences  so 
revealed  their  inadequacy  as  during  the  past 
few  years.  From  one  after  the  other  of  the 
so-called  supports  of  civilization,  the  confi¬ 
dence  of  mankind  has  been  withdrawn.  Their 
faith  cannot  rest  on  abstractions,  on  self- 

[132] 


THE  FAITH  OF  YOUNG  MEN 


suggestion,  on  some  shadowy  and  impersonal 
influence,  or  on  merely  human  personalities. 
Men  are  coming  to  lean  not  on  the  teachings 
about  Christ,  but  on  Christ  Himself.  The 
“back  to  Christ”  tendency,  which  has  been  so 
characteristic  of  modern  theological  scholars 
for  many  years,  is  now  powerfully  re-enforced 
and  illustrated  in  the  experiences  of  countless 
men  who  have  passed  through  the  dark 
shadows  of  the  last  decade.  His  words  are 
suddenly  found  to  be  the  only  words  adequate 
to  meet  the  situation  and  to  satisfy  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  troubled  men.  Everything  else 
has  been  shaken — agnosticism,  atheism,  materi¬ 
alism,  positivism,  rationalism.  There  has  been 
a  shattering  of  earthly  ideals.  There  has  come 
a  vivid  revelation  of  the  transitoriness  of  ma¬ 
terial  possessions.  This  has  served  to  reveal 
in  clearer  light  the  great  unseen  Reality. 
Nothing  has  happened  in  these  recent  years  to 
invalidate  any  claim  ever  made  by  Christ. 
Prophetic  and  heroic  spirits  have  come  to  see 
that  Christ  only  is  the  hope  of  a  new  social 
order.  In  Him  is  the  only  hope  of  equalizing, 
stabilizing,  reconstructing,  and  regenerating 
the  world. 

Larger  reality  is  being  given  to  faith.  On 

[133] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


every  hand  sham  and  hypocrisy  are  being 
shed.  Empty  phrases  and  mere  formal  pro¬ 
fession  do  not  satisfy.  A  sense  of  reality  is 
abroad — an  unaccustomed  frankness  and  hon¬ 
esty.  Men  demand  in  themselves  and  in  others 
downright  sincerity.  They  insist  that  in  our 
speech  we  shall  say  what  we  mean  and  mean 
what  we  say.  They  demand  that  conduct  be 
coordinated  with  creed.  Moreover,  in  our  at¬ 
titude  toward  the  evils  of  the  day,  there  is  a 
hopeful  insistence  that  uncompromising  war¬ 
fare  be  waged.  Large  and  increasing  numbers 
are  demanding  that  Christianity  actually  be 
tried,  that  the  reign  of  Christ  be  extended  over 
every  area  of  life,  and  that  it  govern  all  human 
relationships. 

Faith  is  being  enlarged  and  expanded. 
Men  find  that  they  must  believe  more  or  not 
at  all.  Though  what  has  been  said  about  many 
men’s  faith  having  been  simplified,  so  that  they 
may  not  believe  as  many  things  as  they  once 
thought  they  believed,  is  true,  it  is  likewise 
true  that  their  faith  has  fuller  and  richer  con¬ 
tent.  Professor  Cairns,  of  Aberdeen,  insists 
that  out  of  these  years  of  turmoil  a  new  the¬ 
ology  must  come — a  theology  more  true  to  the 
New  Testament  and  the  facts  of  experience. 

[134] 


THE  FAITH  OF  YOUNG  MEN 


Certainly  men  are  finding  the  Bible,  the  great 
source  literature  of  our  faith,  a  new  collec¬ 
tion  of  writings.  It  seems  meant  for  today. 
True  it  is,  that  the  Bible  is  never  more  at  home 
than  in  the  midst  of  great  trials  and  uncertain¬ 
ties.  An  impossible  world  situation  has  put 
new  meaning  into  this  great  Revelation.  With 
what  startling  vividness  have  some  pages  of 
the  Scriptures  leaped  out  at  us  during  recent 
years;  for  example,  certain  of  the  Psalms, 
certain  portions  of  the  Prophets,  such  Epistles 
as  First  and  Second  Peter,  parts  of  the  Book 
of  Revelation. 

New  and  larger  meaning  is  being  put  into 
old  aspects  of  the  Christian  faith.  Take,  for 
example,  the  matter  of  sin.  No  one  today 
questions  its  reality,  its  heinousness,  and  that 
its  wages  are  literally  death,  that  is,  separation 
from  vitality.  Think  also  of  the  sufficiency 
and  necessity  of  Christ’s  salvation.  What  a 
flood  of  light  has  been  thrown  on  the  work 
which  He  only  can  do.  No  longer  do  the  fol¬ 
lowing  words  seem  like  narrow  dogmatism, 
but  rather  like  scientific  generalization,  “There 
is  none  other  Name  under  Heaven,  given 
among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved.” 
Light  has  also  broken  upon  Christ’s  great  sac- 

[135] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


J 


rifice.  How  inadequate  hitherto  have  been  our 
conceptions  of  what  bearing  the  Cross  means. 
yVe  see  now  that  it  was  not  an  accident  nor  an 
incident,  but  the  expression  of  a  principle,  and 
more,  by  which  any  soul  or  nation  can  be 
saved.  Thus  the  awful  suffering  and  loss 
caused  by  the  war  are  given  a  new  and  a  pro¬ 
found  meaning.  The  thoughts  of  millions, 
likewise,  have  been  turned  to  life  after  death 
so  that  literally  immortality  has  been  brought 
into  light.  What  a  vast  volume  of  new  and 
most  helpful  literature  on  the  subject  of  im¬ 
mortality  has  appeared  within  the  past  five 
years.  Above  all,  in  the  faith  and  life  of 
countless  men,  the  superhuman  element  in 
Christianity  has  become  a  great  reality.  On 
every  hand  we  find  among  young  men  new 
faith  in  God  and  in  prayer.  While  the  war, 
and,  possibly  even  more,  the  grave  disap¬ 
pointments  in  the  post-war  period  have  shaken 
confidence  in  man,  this  loss  has  been  more  than 
offset  by  a  new  and  growing  confidence  in  God. 
It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  this  new  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  the  infinite  worth  of  the  Christian  Gos¬ 
pel  and  this  more  vivid  realization  of  the  spir¬ 
itual  realities.  Let  it  stimulate  us  all  to  more 

[136] 


THE  FAITH  OF  YOUNG  MEN 


daring  conceptions  of  the  character,  purposes, 
and  resources  of  our  God. 

These  very  real  and  most  significant 
changes  in  the  beliefs  and  lives  of  men  con¬ 
stitute  a  challenge  to  our  own  faith.  They 
challenge  us,  in  the  first  place,  to  re-examine 
the  foundations  and  content  of  our  faith. 
Why  should  we  be  mere  spectators,  investiga¬ 
tors,  and  commentators  on  the  deeper  thought 
and  faith  experiences  of  others?  Why  should 
not  each  one  of  us  become  part  of  a  new- 
thought  movement?  There  are  any  number 
of  questions  regarding  matters  of  faith  raised 
by  recent  events.  These  questions  involve 
the  whole  range  of  our  own  religious  position 
and  experience.  If  we  cannot  give  satisfying 
answers  to  these  questions,  there  is  something 
lacking  in  the  thoroughness  and  earnestness  of 
our  processes.  Let  us  not  shrink  from  re¬ 
thinking  and  restating  our  religious  positions. 

The  challenge  calls  upon  us  also  to  enter 
into  the  new  revelations  which  God  has  to 

make  to  us.  Here  again  there  is  no  limit  to 

< 

what  is  possible.  The  range  and  grasp  of  our 
faith  in  the  coming  days  should  far  transcend 
our  past  experience.  In  the  religion  of  the 
Living  Christ  our  spiritual  experience  may  be- 

[137] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


come  vastly  richer,  stronger,  more  reasonable, 
more  vital,  more  satisfying.  This  partly  be¬ 
cause  we  are  surrounded  by  so  much  greater 
numbers  of  genuine  and  heroic  witnesses;  and 
partly  because  of  the  great  vistas  of  the  possi¬ 
bilities  of  the  Christian  life  which  have  been 
opened  to  us  in  recent  days. 

The  challenge  demands  of  us  that  we  apply 
our  faith  daily  and  courageously  within  the 
range  of  our  own  lives  and  relationships.  All 
of  us,  likewise,  as  national  citizens  and  as 
world  citizens,  should  seek  to  bring  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  our  faith,  which  are  the  unerring 
principles  of  our  Lord  Himself,  to  bear  upon 
the  present  social,  racial,  and  international 
problems.  Thus  the  cause  of  Christ  and  His 
Church  may  be  lifted  permanently  to  a  new 
level.  We  do  well  to  remind  ourselves  that 
Christ  is  large  enough  to  meet  this  present 
overwhelming  world  situation,  or  He  is  not 
large  enough  to  meet  the  needs  and  longings 
of  our  own  lives. 

The  challenge  comes  to  us  with  irresistible 
force  to  propagate  our  faith.  We  have  been 
summoned  to  nothing  less  than  a  world¬ 
embracing  campaign  to  bring  all  men  under 
the  sway  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  strife, 

[138] 


THE  FAITH  OF  YOUNG  MEN 

disorder,  and  chaos  still  so  widely  prevalent, 
do  not  constitute  a  reason  for  doubt  but  a 
challenge  to  faith.  The  breakdown  and  col¬ 
lapse  of  so  much  of  the  work  of  man  should 
be  regarded  by  genuine  Christians  not  as  a 
stumbling  block,  but  as  a  stepping  stone  into 
a  far  higher  spiritual  experience.  The  period 
through  which  we  have  just  been  passing,  and 
from  which  we  have  not  fully  emerged,  is  one 
designed  to  be  a  deep  moral  and  spiritual 
preparation  for  an  unprecedented  advance. 
At  a  time  when  so  many  are  still  in  the  dark, 
there  is  need  of  multiplying  the  number  of 
men  who  will,  with  penetrating  and  triumphant 
faith,  see  through  the  present  confused  events 
the  day  of  inevitable  victory. 


[139] 


VI 

WHY  AN  INCREASING 
NUMBER  OF  YOUNG  MEN 
THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD 

BELIEVE  IN 
JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


VI 


Why  an  Increasing  Number  of  Young 

Men  Throughout  the  World  Believe 
in  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord 

Among  the  young  men  in  different  parts  of 
the  world,  there  is  a  movement  away  from  the 
non-Christian  religions,  away  from  irreligion, 
away  from  indifference  concerning  religion — 
a  movement  toward  Jesus  Christ  and  belief  on 
Him  as  the  Divine  Lord  and  Saviour.  Hap¬ 
pily  this  Christward  trend  among  young  men 
and  boys  is  observable  both  inside  and  outside 
the  centers  of  learning.  What  are  the  reasons 
why  young  men  who  once  were  unbelievers, 
have  come  today  into  a  reasonable  and  vital 
faith  in  the  divinity  or  deity  of  Jesus  Christ? 
By  a  reasonable  faith  is  meant  a  faith  for 
which  they  can  give  satisfying  reasons;  by  a 
vital  faith  is  meant  a  faith  which  effects  pro¬ 
found  and  permanent  changes  in  their  lives 
and  in  their  relationships  to  their  fellow  men. 

In  seeking  to  answer  this  question,  I  shall 

[14  3] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

try  to  state  as  nearly  as  I  can  the  testimony 
of  hundreds,  possibly  I  should  be  more  nearly 
accurate  if  I  said  thousands,  of  the  young  men 
of  different  communities  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad,  who  have  conversed  with  me  upon 
matters  of  faith  and  have  told  me  of  their 
spiritual  experience.  While  I  cannot  hope  to 
give  all  the  reasons  underlying  the  faith  thus 
manifested  in  Christ  as  Lord,  I  shall  try  to 
indicate  the  paths  by  which  I  found  the  larg¬ 
est  numbers  of  young  men  emerging  from  un¬ 
belief,  doubt,  and  uncertainty,  into  the  full 
assurance  and  unshakable  conviction  of  genu¬ 
ine  faith.  Some  of  you  may  take  issue  with 
what  will  be  said,  but,  if  so,  let  me  remind  you 
that  you  will  be  taking  issue  not  with  the 
speaker,  but  with  the  actual  and  authentic  ex¬ 
periences  of  the  young  men  themselves. 

At  the  outset  I  would  indicate  that  very 
many  of  the  young  men  of  our  generation  have 
been  led  to  believe  in  the  deity  of  Christ  by 
the  consideration  of  His  character.  They  have 
approached  His  character  as  they  would  that 
of  any  other  great  religious  leader  whom  they 
wished  to  understand.  They  find  that  His 
character  embraces  all  the  good  traits  which 
mark  other  good  and  great  men.  And  more 

[144] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


than  this,  they  note  that  in  Christ  all  of  these 
traits  are  developed  to  a  higher  degree  than  in 
other  men,  even  to  that  degree  which  they  are 
obliged  to  characterize  as  perfection.  More¬ 
over,  as  they  prolong  their  studies,  they  find  in 
Christ  certain  traits  not  known  in  the  world: 
for  example,  superhuman  insight,  superhuman 
resourcefulness  enabling  Him  to  overcome 
every  kind  of  difficulty  and  evil  and  to  prove 
adequate  to  meet  every  situation  and  need, 
absolute  humility,  perfectly  unselfish  love,  the 
spirit  of  complete  forgiveness,  and  absolute 
purity  or  sinlessness.  They  cannot  say  this  of 
any  other  character  they  have  studied. 

The  perfect  balance  of  the  character  of 
Jesus  Christ  also  deeply  impresses  them. 
With  Him  no  trait  is  weak ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  trait  is  exaggerated.  Am  I  not  right 
in  saying  that  all  other  men  have  what  we  call 
their  strong  points  and  their  weak  points? 
What  would  you  call  the  strong  points  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  sense  of  being  more  com¬ 
plete  than  the  other  aspects  of  His  character? 
And  what  would  you  call  His  weak  points? 
You  see  where  these  men  have  been  led.  They 
have  been  led  to  a  position,  where,  in  all  con¬ 
scientiousness,  they  have  had  to  say  that  Christ 

[145] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


combines  the  traits  that  distinguish  man  and 
the  traits  that  must  surely  characterize  God. 

Christ’s  is  a  character  that  could  not  have 
been  imagined.  Rousseau,  that  keen  French 
unbeliever,  saw  this.  He  said  the  inventor  of 
such  a  character  would  be  far  more  astonishing 
than  his  hero.  It  could  not  have  been  in¬ 
vented;  therefore,  it  must  have  been  historical. 
We  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  this  char¬ 
acter  is  unexplainable  apart  from  the  hypo¬ 
thesis  that  Christ  was  sui  generis ;  or,  to  use 
that  apt  phrase  which  Bushnell  uses  as  a  cap¬ 
tion  of  one  of  his  chapters,  “The  character  of 
Jesus  forbids  His  possible  classification  with 
men.”  In  Christ  we  have  a  true  descent  of 
God  among  men.  He  was,  “Other  than  all 
the  rest,  strong  among  the  weak,  erect  among 
the  fallen,  believing  among  the  faithless,  clean 
among  the  defiled,  living  among  the  dead.” 
We  do  not  wonder  that  Pilate  said,  “I  find 
no  fault  in  this  man.” 

A  second  class  of  young  men  have  been  led 
primarily  by  the  thorough  study  of  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  Christ  into  this  belief  on  Him  as  Lord. 
Here  likewise  they  have  taken  up  His  teach¬ 
ings  and  principles  and.  have  tried  to  study 
them  as  they  would  the  teachings  of  other  re- 

[146] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


ligious  thinkers.  If  you  have  read  the  sacred 
books  of  the  East,  I  think  your  impression  has 
been  identical  with  mine,  namely,  how  far  one 
has  to  travel  to  find  teachings  that  impress  one 
as  vital  and  abiding,  and  as  possessing  germi¬ 
nating  and  dynamic  power.  How  different 
the  impression  made  on  one  by  even  a  super¬ 
ficial  reading  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ. 
A  close  and  comparative  study  shows  that  His 
teachings  mark  Him  off  from  every  teacher 
who  preceded  him,  and  He  has  had  no  suc¬ 
cessor.  What  teaching  of  any  other  religious 
leader  which  would  be  regarded  today  as  es¬ 
sential  religious  truth  is  not  also  found  among 
the  teachings  of  Christ?  Moreover,  in  the  case 
of  other  religions  these  scattered  truths  appear 
as  broken  lights,  whereas  among  the  teachings 
of  Jesus  they  are  concentrated  into  an  intense 
blaze. 

And  more  important,  Christ’s  teachings 
contain  a  number  of  truths  which  are  today 
admitted  to  be  the  most  important  in  the  realm 
of  religion — teachings  that  had  their  sole  foun¬ 
tain  in  His  mind.  You  ask  me  what  are  some 
of  these  unique  teachings.  Among  them  I 
note:  A  universal  spiritual  reign,  sometimes 
called  the  Kingdom  of  God,  which  is  some  day 

[147] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

to  become  co-extensive  with  the  whole  earth. 
From  the  confused  and  narrow  descriptions  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  current  in  His  day,  he 
recalled  His  people  to  the  high  conceptions  of 
their  great  prophets,  filling  those  ancient 
visions  with  a  new  and  living  content.  In 
what  other  religion  do  you  find  that  con¬ 
ception?  The  idea  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
as  we  understand  the  term,  namely,  God  as  the 
father  of  all  nations  and  all  races  of  mankind, 
and  God  as  father  in  the  sense  revealed  by 
Christ  Himself,  is  something  quite  character¬ 
istic  and  unique.  Also,  the  idea  of  sin  as  it 
has  been  set  forth  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
We  do  not  find  the  true  idea  of  sin  and  the 
deep  sense  of  sin  which  is  the  proof  of  the 
existence  of  the  idea,  in  the  realm  of  non- 
Christian  religions.  Similarly,  we  miss  among 
the  non- Christian  religions  the  idea  of  forgive¬ 
ness  of  sin  as  it  is  lighted  up  and  made  at¬ 
tractive,  appealing,  and  satisfying  by  Jesus 
Christ.  And  take  the  group  of  ideas  about  the 
soul:  its  reality,  its  immortality,  its  accounta¬ 
bility,  its  infinite  worth.  What  other  religions 
have  presented  them  so  vividly  and  in  such  a 
compelling  manner?  Harnack  has  shown  that 
Christ’s  teaching  about  “the  higher  righteous- 

[148] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


ness”  and  His  commandment  of  love  place 
Him  in  a  class  quite  by  Himself.  The  men 
here  who  have  the  most  thorough  knowledge 
of  other  religions,  while  bearing  in  mind  cer¬ 
tain  teachings  of  non-Christian  faiths,  for 
example,  the  teaching  of  compassion  in  Bud¬ 
dhism,  know  how  far  these  are  transcended  by 
a  teaching  like  that  of  this  great  command¬ 
ment  of  love  with  all  its  revolutionizing  and 
transforming  power  in  the  lives  of  men  and  of 
nations. 

We  have  all  noted  the  grandeur  of  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  Christ.  When  I  sit  alone  in  my  room 
and  read  aloud  to  myself  the  words  of  Jesus 
Christ,  it  does  not  take  a  strain  of  imagination 
to  think  of  myself  as  in  the  midst  of  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  Northern  India,  or  as  on  the  sea  in 
time  of  storm,  or  as  looking  upon  the  heavenly 
bodies.  There  is  a  grandeur,  a  majesty,  a  sub¬ 
limity  about  Christ  the  Teacher,  to  be  found 
nowhere  else. 

Think  also  of  the  range  and  the  universality 
of  His  teachings.  They  meet  and  satisfy  every 
possible  need  and  aspiration  of  the  human 
heart  and  of  the  human  race.  They  are 
adapted  to  all  ages,  to  all  stages  of  intelli¬ 
gence,  to  all  temperaments,  to  all  social  con- 

[149] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

ditions,  to  all  nations  and  races.  Who  can 
measure  the  depth  of  Christ’s  teachings?  It 
is  true  that  His  words  arrest  and  hold  the  at¬ 
tention  of  little  children.  This  is  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  impression  made  on  them  by 
the  reading  to  them  the  words  of  Confucius, 
or  of  Plato,  or  of  Buddha.  But  not  only  do 
Christ’s  words  interest  little  children,  they  also 
challenge  and  call  out  the  best  energies  of  the 
strongest  intellects.  No  one  is  more  ready  to 
admit  this  than  the  men  who  have  most  deeply 
pondered  the  words  of  Christ. 

Observe  the  completeness  of  His  teachings. 
What  idea  essential  to  the  religious  life  has 
been  added  in  well-nigh  two  thousand  years? 
This  suggests  the  timelessness  of  His  words. 
Goethe  said,  “Beyond  the  grandeur  and  the 
moral  elevation  of  the  teachings  of  Christ  as 
they  shine  and  sparkle  in  the  gospels  the  hu¬ 
man  mind  will  not  advance.”  Furthermore, 
His  teachings  do  not  become  obsolete.  The 
learned  scientist,  Bomanes,  who,  it  is  said,  did 
not  bow  in  prayer  for  twenty-five  years,  but 
who  was  finally  led  back  into  faith  in  Christ 
largely  by  the  study  of  His  teachings,  has 
pointed  out  that  the  subsequent  growth  of 
knowledge  and  the  subsequent  progress  of  so - 

[150] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


ciety  have  not  made  it  necessary  to  discount  or 
discard  any  one  of  His  many  teachings.  In 
contrast,  read  the  writings  of  Confucius,  or  of 
Plato,  or  of  other  great  religious  and  ethical 
leaders  of  the  past  and  see  how  much  is  palpa¬ 
bly  out  of  date.  Last  year  while  I  was  in 
China,  in  conversation  with  a  group  of  Con- 
fucian  scholars,  they  called  attention  to  this 
very  point. 

The  vitality  of  Christ’s  teachings  is  wonder¬ 
ful.  What  other  teacher  has  propagated  his 
ideas  by  peaceful  means  to  such  an  extent  as 
Jesus  Christ? 

There  is  also  inexhaustible  force  in  His 
teachings.  They  seem  to  gather  momentum 
with  each  succeeding  generation  and  century. 
The  authority  of  His  teaching  invariably  im¬ 
presses  one.  He  spoke  with  no  uncertainty, 
with  no  equivocation,  with  no  hesitation  or 
reservation.  Think,  for  example,  of  such 
words  of  His  as  these,  “I  am  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life”;  “I  am  the  resurrection 
and  the  life”;  “Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away”;  “I, 
if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  Me.”  If  He  had  spoken  only  yes¬ 
terday  one  might  ask  for  time  to  test  the 

[151] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


ground  for  His  authority;  but  well-nigh  two 
thousand  years  have  elapsed  and  that  authority 
has  continued  to  gain  weight  and  influence. 

More  important  and  striking  than  all  other 
aspects  of  Christ  as  a  teacher  is  the  fact  that 
He  lived  what  He  taught.  If  you  have  never 
read  through  the  gospels  with  this  in  mind,  do 
so ;  and  while  doing  so,  contrast  Christ’s  reality 
in  this  respect  with  that  of  other  religious 
teachers  and  leaders.  Look,  and  you  look  in 
vain,  to  find  a  command  of  Christ  which  is 
not  embodied  in  His  practice.  Look,  and  you 
look  in  vain,  to  find  a  precept  which  does  not 
have  its  best  illustration  in  Christ  Himself. 
How  far  short  other  teachers  fall  of  the  truths 
they  propagate  regarding  character  and  serv¬ 
ice.  Not  so  Jesus  Christ. 

His  teachings  not  only  stand  the  most  thor¬ 
oughgoing  and  scientific  testing  when  objec¬ 
tively  viewed,  but  they  also  further  attest  their 
truth  and  the  Divine  character  of  the  One 
Who  proclaimed  them,  when  they  are  applied 
to  the  life.  Christ  made  this  challenge,  “If 
any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  he  shall  know 
of  the  teaching,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or 
whether  I  speak  from  myself,”  that  is,  simply 
as  a  man.  It  is  as  though  a  professor  of  geol- 

[152] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


ogy  were  propounding  in  the  class-room  a  cer¬ 
tain  theory  concerning  the  structure  of  rocks, 
and  the  students  would  object  and  say:  “Pro¬ 
fessor,  we  have  never  seen  it  in  this  way.  We 
cannot  accept  your  statement.”  He  would 
reply:  “I  did  not  expect  that  you  would.  I 
would  much  prefer  that  you  traverse  the  path 
that  I  have  walked  over  and  by  which  I  arrived 
at  this  theory.  If  you  will  go  into  the  labora¬ 
tory,  if  you  will  go  out  into  the  fields,  if  you 
will  take  the  hammer  and  the  acids  and  the 
microscope  and  go  through  the  experiments, 
you  will  find  out  whether  what  I  have  pro¬ 
pounded  concerning  the  structure  of  these 
rocks  is  correct.”  You  would  say,  “That 
appeals  to  us  as  reasonable.” 

Jesus  Christ  made  precisely  the  same  test. 
In  spirit  He  says,  “You  say  you  doubt  whether 
I  am  different  from  other  men  save  in  point 
of  degree.  If  you  will  take  my  teachings  and 
obey  them,  if  you  will  let  them  have  right  of 
way  in  your  life,  if  you  will  make  this  a  thor¬ 
ough  and  an  honest  test,  you  will  discover 
whether  I  bear  the  marks  of  God.”  Coleridge 
saw  this  point.  He  said,  “The  teachings  of 
Jesus  Christ  find  me.”  I  was  talking  with  a 
brilliant  J ewess,  a  student  in  Melbourne  Uni- 

[153] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

versity,  during  one  of  my  trips  to  Australia. 
She  said  to  me:  “These  teachings  of  Christ, 
I  concede,  are  beyond  those  of  any  other 
teacher,  but,”  she  added,  “more  wonderful 
than  that,  they  make  me  want  to  obey  them  as 
I  read  them.  I  do  not  receive  that  impression 
from  any  other  teachings.”  As  we  take  these 
teachings  of  Christ  into  our  lives  and  obey 
them,  cost  what  it  may,  we  shall  discover  that 
they  reveal  a  knowledge  of  ourselves  that  will 
startle  us,  a  knowledge  of  us  that  no  other 
mind  has  revealed  to  us.  We  shall  find  that 
they  meet  and  satisfy  our  deepest  needs  and 
longings.  We  shall  experience  the  fact  that 
they  convey  an  inspiration,  an  illumination, 
and  an  energizing  influence  such  as  no  other 
words  do.  We  shall  then  come  to  understand 
how  it  was  that  those  who  were  His  enemies 
could  say,  “Never  man  spake  like  this  Man”; 
and  how  His  friends  could  exclaim,  “To  whom 
shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal 
life.”  And  in  time  we  shall  one  by  one  be  able 
to  say  of  Christ’s  teachings  with  a  meaning 
which  we  cannot  attach  to  the  sayings  of  any 
other  teacher,  that  they  “are  spirit,  and  are 
life.” 

Not  a  few  young  men  have  been  led  to  be- 

[154] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 

iieve  in  Christ  as  Lord  by  dwelling  on  the  sig¬ 
nificance  of  His  death.  First,  as  interpreted 
by  Christ  Himself.  Look  over  the  Gospels 
and  you  will  notice  that  much  more  space  is 
given  to  the  account  of  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  Christ,  that  is,  to  His  passion,  than 
to  any  other  part  of  His  career.  You  will 
observe  also,  that  He  has  spoken  more  than  is 
usually  supposed  about  the  necessity  of  His 
death,  the  meaning  of  His  death,  and  the 
power  of  His  death.  You  will  recall,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  His  teaching  that  His  blood  was  to  be 
shed  for  the  remission  of  sins ;  and  again,  that 
He  came  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many.’ 
You  will  remember  that  He  seemed  to  be  un¬ 
der  a  divine  compulsion  toward  the  end  of  His 
life  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  as  He  said,  there 
to  die  for  the  people. 

Secondly,  they  note  the  impression  made  by 
the  death  of  Christ  on  those  who  lived  nearest 
Him.  Read  the  Epistles ;  read  the  sermons  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  and  observe  the  great 
prominence  given  by  the  early  Christian 
leaders  in  their  teaching  and  preaching  to  the 
death  of  Christ.  Principal  Denney  of  Scot¬ 
land  rendered  a  lasting  service  in  his  work, 
“The  Death  of  Christ,,,  by  emphasizing  the 

[155] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


place  and  the  significance  of  this  great  fact 
which  our  generation  has  been  prone  to  leave 
in  the  background.  I  would  commend  this 
book  to  every  student  for  thoughtful  reading. 
You  will  notice  the  prominence  given  to  this 
doctrine  in  the  preaching  and  teaching  in  that 
day  when  the  Church  had  unparalleled  spiri¬ 
tual  achievements ;  for  example,  teachings  like 
these:  That  He  bore  our  sins  in  His  body  on 
the  tree;  that  He  was  the  propitiation,  not  for 
our  sins  only,  but  also  for  the  sin  of  the  world ; 
that  He  loosed  us  from  all  our  sins  by  His  own 
blood. 

They  have  also  considered  His  death  inter¬ 
preted  not  only  by  what  Christ  Himself  said 
and  by  what  those  who  lived  nearest  in  time 
to  Him  said,  but  interpreted  also  by  the  im¬ 
pression  it  makes  today  on  the  hearts  and  con¬ 
sciences  of  men.  The  scientific  method  re¬ 
quires  that  account  be  taken  of  all  the  facts. 
Here  is  a  stupendous  fact,  the  impression  made 
on  living  men  by  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ, 
coupled  with  the  words  of  Himself  and  His 
Apostles  as  to  the  meaning  of  His  death.  If 
you  ask  me  what  class  of  men  have  been  most 
impressed  by  the  death  of  Christ,  I  would  say 
that  it  is  made  up  of  the  men  who  have  come 

[156] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


to  realize  keenly  their  sinfulness,  men  who  are 
conscious  of  the  presence  in  their  lives  of  spots 
and  stains  that  they  themselves  cannot  efface. 
And  there  are  many  more  men  of  this  class 
than  people  think!  How  many  hundreds  of 
them  I  meet  from  year  to  year!  I  met  some 
last  night.  There  are  some  before  me  now. 
The  presence  of  sin,  the  stain  of  sin,  and  the 
sense  of  sin  are  facts  and  not  theories. 

When  I  visited  the  Passion  Play  at  Ober- 

ammergau  last  year,  as  I  did  also  in  1910  and 

in  1900,  I  received  a  new  impression  of  the 

power  of  Christ’s  death  in  the  lives  of  men. 

There  wrere  present  four  thousand  people.  We 
» 

went  into  the  great  hall  at  eight  o’clock  in  the 
morning;  were  there  until  twelve;  we  came 
back  at  one  and  remained  until  five — eight 
long  hours.  Those  present  were  of  nearly 
every  nation  and  race,  of  many  religions  and 
of  no  religion.  They  spoke  many  different 
languages.  A  large  section  of  them  did  not 
understand  the  language  in  which  the  play  was 
going  forward.  Among  them  were  men  of  all 
temperaments  and  of  all  stages  of  intelligence 
and  culture,  moreover.  That  entire  vast  audi¬ 
ence  was  riveted  through  that  long  day  as  I 
have  never  seen  another  audience  held.  What 

[157] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


held  them?  Not  the  acting.  Every  actor  in 
the  play  came  from  that  little  village  of  about 
one  thousand  inhabitants.  You  could  have 
gone  to  any  large  city  in  Europe  and  seen  bet¬ 
ter  acting.  Not  the  music.  You  could  have 
gone  to  any  capital  in  Europe  and,  from  the 
critical  point  of  view,  heard  much  better  music. 
What  held  these  people  with  an  intensity  that 
became  so  close  and  painful  that  some  were 
obliged  to  leave  before  the  climax  was  reached 
in  the  crucifixion?  It  was  the  representation 
of  an  historical  fact  that  awakened  and  satis¬ 
fied  a  sense  of  a  correspondent  universal  need 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

When  in  my  work  with  students  and  other 
young  men,  other  arguments  have  failed,  and 
I  have  lifted  up  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  has 
never  failed  to  move  men.  You  and  I  may 
not  understand  why  or  how  it  is  that  there  is 
a  necessary  connection  between  the  life  and 
death  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  one  hand,  and 
emancipation  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin 
on  the  other;  but  we  cannot  doubt  the  fact  that 
there  is  such  a  connection.  Why?  Precisely 
as  we  do  not  doubt  that  electricity  exists  be¬ 
cause  of  the  light  it  sheds  and  the  power  it 
sends  forth,  although  we  cannot  in  the  last 

[158] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


analysis  explain  the  process  and  the  causes. 
So  we  know  the  reality  of  this  fact  by  the  re¬ 
sults  in  the  lives  of  men.  And  I  remind  vou 
that  these  are  not  small  or  superficial  results, 
but  stupendous  changes — changes  from  dark¬ 
ness  into  light,  from  despair  into  hope,  from 
sense  of  burden  into  liberty,  from  conscious¬ 
ness  of  guilt  to  peace  and  joy. 

I  find  young  men  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
who  have  been  led  into  belief  in  the  deity  of 
Christ  by  pondering  the  facts  in  connection 
with  the  resurrection.  It  is  my  impression  that 
students  of  law  and  of  history  have  been  ap¬ 
pealed  to  particularly  by  this  argument;  al¬ 
though  it  is  not  without  its  message  to  all 
classes  of  men  who  are  influenced  by  evidence. 
Some  have  been  most  appealed  to  by  the  argu¬ 
ment  of  the  witnesses.  To  show  the  force  of 
this,  one  might  concede  that  the  gospels  are 
not  authentic  historic  records.  (A  position,  I 
need  not  add,  that  I  do  not  hold,  either  in  the 
case  of  the  synoptic  gospels  or  of  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John.)  The  consensus  of  the  best  modem 
critical  scholarship  does  not  require  that  we 
do  so.  But  for  the  moment  let  us  limit  our¬ 
selves  in  this  immediate  connection  to  the  evi¬ 
dence  brought  forward  in  four  documents  that 

[159] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


few  if  any  critics  who  today  stand  among 
the  most  scholarly  constructive  critics  of  de¬ 
vout  spirit  would  exclude  as  historical  docu¬ 
ments:  Homans,  First  and  Second  Corinthians, 
and  Galatians.  According  to  the  testimony  of 
these  letters  written  within  twenty  or  thirty 
years  after  the  alleged  resurrection,  we  find 
that  after  Christ  had  been  crucified,  and  had 
lain  in  the  tomb.  He  rose  again,  and  was  seen 
on  one  occasion  by  Peter;  on  another  occasion 
by  the  Twelve ;  on  yet  another  occasion  by  five 
hundred  people  at  one  time,  of  whom  the  large 
majority  were  living  at  the  time  the  record 
went  forth;  again,  by  all  the  Apostles;  again, 
by  James,  who  was  the  last  man  in  the  world 
to  be  deceived ;  and  finally,  by  Paul  himself. 

Would  it  not  be  difficult  to  find  any  histori¬ 
cal  fact  more  securely  established  than  this 
one?  What  could  be  more  convincing  than  the 
cumulative  evidence  of  so  many  men  living 
at  the  time  and  in  the  place  where  the  events 
recorded  are  alleged  to  have  taken  place  and 
who  attested  the  genuineness  and  strength  of 
their  belief  in  not  a  few  cases  by  martyrdom? 

But  some  have  been  more  appealed  to  by  the 
sequacious  argument;  that  is,  the  influence  of 
the  alleged  resurrection  on  the  apostles;  the 

[160] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 

transformation  that  took  place  in  their  lives. 
In  some  respects  this  might  better  be  called 
the  psychological  argument.  Before  the  resur¬ 
rection,  following  the  crucifixion,  the  apostles 
were  despondent ;  directly  after,  they  were  full 
of  hope.  Before,  they  were  sorrowful;  right 
after,  they  abounded  in  joy.  Before,  they  were 
unbelieving;  afterwards,  they  had  unwavering 
faith  which  nothing  could  daunt  or  shake.  Be¬ 
fore,  they  had  small  and  contracted  ideas; 
afterwards,  world-wide  conceptions  and  pro¬ 
grams.  Before,  they  were  hesitant  and  with¬ 
out  purpose ;  right  after,  they  were  purposeful, 
filled  with  aggressive  enthusiasm,  going  forth 
to  conquer  the  world  and  meeting  with  un¬ 
precedented  results.  Before,  they  were  cow¬ 
ardly — yes,  that  is  the  word  to  use ;  afterwards, 
they  had  magnificent  courage.  Bobertson 
Nicoll  has  asked  the  question,  “What  made 
those  who  were  like  frightened  sheep,  who  were 
panic-stricken  when  the  Shepherd  was  smitten 
on  Good  Friday,  as  bold  as  lions  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost?”  Now  every  student  of  psychol¬ 
ogy  here  knows  that  we  must  have  an  adequate 
cause  for  such  a  marvelous  transformation.  A 
change  as  revolutionary  as  this,  not  in  one 
man  but  in  many  persons  of  different  tempera- 

[161] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


ments,  demands  an  adequate  explanation.  No 
theory  has  thus  far  been  invented  which  meets 
the  requirements  of  the  case.  The  student  of 
psychology  finds  the  only  satisfactory  explana¬ 
tion  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead 
as  an  historic  fact. 

Within  twenty  or  thirty  years  after  the 
resurrection  strong  churches  were  in  existence 
at  Jerusalem,  at  Antioch,  in  Galatia,  at 
Corinth,  at  Rome,  and  elsewhere,  churches  of 
such  strength  that  they  were  largely  self-sup¬ 
porting  and  self-propagating,  sending  out 
mighty  waves  of  influence  into  the  regions  be¬ 
yond.  In  all  these  churches  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  was  unquestioned. 
There  were  parties  in  those  churches;  people 
were  divided  on  many  points ;  but  on  this  point, 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead,  they 
were  agreed.  As  Denney  in  “ Jesus  and  the 
Gospel”  says:  “The  real  historical  evidence 
for  the  resurrection  is  the  fact  that  it  was  be¬ 
lieved,  preached,  propagated,  and  produced  its 
fruit  and  effect  in  the  new  phenomenon  of  the 
Christian  Church,  long  before  any  of  our  gos¬ 
pels  were  written.  ...  Not  one  of  them 
would  ever  have  been  written  but  for  that 
faith.” 


[162] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


The  Jews  are  a  wonderful  people.  There 
is  nothing  more  wonderful  about  them  than 
their  tenacity,  and  there  is  no  more  striking 
exhibition  of  their  tenacity  than  the  way  in 
which  they  hold  to  the  decalogue.  And  what 
article  of  the  decalogue  do  they  hold  more  se¬ 
curely  in  the  midst  of  disintegrating  influences, 
than  the  one  that  pertains  to  the  Sabbath? 
Nevertheless,  Jews,  members  of  the  common¬ 
wealth  of  Israel,  established  the  Christian  Sab¬ 
bath  in  commemoration  of  the  resurrection. 

Bishop  Westcott  says  that  the  great  argu¬ 
ment  for  the  resurrection  is  the  existence  of 
the  Church  today.  Think  of  it.  The  Church, 
beginning  as  a  small,  unacknowledged,  and 
despised  sect,  conquered  the  Roman  Empire, 
cast  the  spell  of  the  matchless  Christ  over  the 
rising  nations  of  Northern  and  Western 
Europe,  reached  out  to  fashion  the  two  great 
English  speaking  nations  of  North  America, 
and  down  into  the  Southern  Seas  to  mold  Aus¬ 
tralasia,  and  is  today  moving  with  giant  strides 
among  the  non-Christian  nations.  Its  adher¬ 
ents  are  numbered  by  hundreds  of  mil¬ 
lions.  It  is  admitted  to  be  the  most  beneficent 
and  powerful  society  among  men.  There  must 
be  a  cause  and  a  sufficient  cause  for  such  a 

[163] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

colossal  result,  and  thoughtful  men  cannot  find 
an  adequate  cause  in  superstition  or  delusion, 
but  only  in  such  a  reality  as  this  central,  his¬ 
toric  fact. 

There  was  a  time  in  my  college  life  when  I 
did  not  believe  in  the  deity  of  Jesus  Christ.  I 
was  conscientious  in  my  unbelief.  I  was  spe¬ 
cializing  on  historical  studies  and  other  sub¬ 
jects  preparatory  to  the  legal  profession.  I 
was  led  to  begin  a  study  of  the  resurrection. 
I  carried  it  on  as  well  as  I  could  without  spe¬ 
cial  leadership.  It  required  a  long  time.  I 
shall  not  forget  the  day  and  never  will  my  life 
lose  the  inspiration  which  came  when,  after  I 
had  spread  out  on  paper  the  evidence,  I  came 
to  that  position  where  to  be  intellectually  hon¬ 
est  I  had  to  concede  that  Jesus  Christ  rose 
from  the  dead;  and  when  I  could  say,  with 
feeling  and  conviction,  “My  Lord  and  my 
God.” 

If  I  were  to  name  another  reason  why  young 
men  are  coming  to  believe  in  the  deity  of  Jesus 
Christ  I  would  add:  By  observing  what  He  is 
doing  today  in  the  lives  of  men.  Men  in  whom 
we  have  confidence  tell  us  that  at  one  time 
they  did  not  believe  on  Christ  as  Lord.  They 
were  then  led  to  comply  with  His  conditions, 

[164] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 

and  as  a  result  certain  changes  took  place 
within  the  range  of  their  experience;  for  ex¬ 
ample,  the  burden  due  to  the  sense  of  sin  was 
removed;  doubts  were  dissolved;  temptations 
before  which  they  formerly  fell,  they  now  over¬ 
came;  habits  that  at  one  time  shackled  them 
were  broken;  a  new  disposition  was  created 
within  them,  so  that  things  that  they  once  hated 
they  had  now  come  to  love,  and  the  things  they 
had  once  desired  they  had  now  come  to  hate; 
they  had  been  filled  with  a  new  hope  and 
energy  not  naturally  their  own.  This  testi¬ 
mony  has  been  repeated  and  attested  by 
countless  millions  throughout  the  generations. 
Romanes,  to  quote  him  again,  has  pointed  out 
that  it  was  not  simply  a  change  in  name  or 
opinion,  but  a  modification  in  character  more 
or  less  profound.  These  are  facts,  not  fancies. 
The  people  who  bear  witness  to  them  have  a 
right  to  be  heard.  They,  having  complied  with 
certain  conditions,  state  that  certain  changes 
or  results  have  been  experienced.  We  cannot 
set  aside  such  evidence;  it  calls  for  explana¬ 
tion.  It  is  neither  fair  nor  right  for  us  to 
assume  that  these  people  are  deluded.  They 
are  no  more  likely  to  be  deluded  than  we  are. 
Until  one  has  gone  over  the  path  which  they 

[165] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


have  traveled  and  complied  with  the  conditions, 
and  paid  the  prices,  as  they  have  done,  it  is 
both  unscholarly  and  unjust  to  reject  or 
ignore  their  evidence. 

What  men  want  today  is  not  so  much  more 
examples  of  righteous  living ;  not  so  much  more 
ethical  and  religious  teaching — the  world  is 
filled  with  good  teachings;  not  so  much  more 
sermons, — seldom  have  there  been  more  and 
better  sermons  preached  than  one  can  hear  in 
the  churches  today;  not  so  much  the  dwelling 
on  miracles  which  took  place  hundreds  of  years 
ago,  important  as  these  are.  What  men  want 
— is  it  not  true? — is  a  touch  of  the  Almighty, 
here  and  now,  a  demonstration  within  them¬ 
selves  of  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  facts  and 
forces.  Nothing  can  shake  the  faith  of  the 
man  who  has  an  experimental  knowledge  of 
the  truth  of  the  work  of  Christ  in  the  lives  of 
men. 

“And  not  for  signs  in  heaven  above 
Or  earth  below  they  look, 

Who  know  with  John  His  smile  of  love 
With  Peter  His  rebuke. 

“In  joy  of  inward  peace,  or  sense 
Of  sorrow  over  sin, 

He  is  His  own  best  evidence, 

His  witness  is  within. 

[160] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


“But  warm,  sweet,  tender,  even  yet 
A  present  help  is  He; 

And  faith  has  still  its  Olivet, 

And  love  its  Galilee. 

“The  healing  of  His  seamless  dress 
Is  by  our  beds  of  pain; 

We  touch  Him  in  life’s  throng  and  press. 
And  we  are  wdiole  again. 


“Our  Friend,  our  Brother,  and  our  Lord, 

What  may  Thy  service  be? — 

Nor  name,  nor  form,  nor  ritual  word. 

But  simply  following  Thee. 

“Our  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all! 

,  .  Whate’er  our  name  or  sign. 

We  own  Thy  sway,  we  hear  Thy  call. 

We  test  our  lives  by  Thine.” 

It  is  this  living  demonstration  for  which  each 
one  of  us  should  hunger  and  thirst;  and  we 
should  not  be  satisfied  until  we  experience  it. 

In  view  of  reasons  like  those  we  have  con¬ 
sidered,  am  I  not  right  in  saying  that  the  faith 
of  this  ever-increasing  number  of  young  men 
who  have  come  to  believe  in  the  deity  of  Christ 
does  not  rest  on  superstition,  hallucination,  or 
self-suggestion ;  not  upon  sentiment  or  feel¬ 
ing;  not  upon  unfounded  tradition;  not  upon 
a  system  of  theology,  important  as  that  is; 
not  upon  a  collection  of  writings  or  upon  an 

[167] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


organization,  indispensable  though  both  Bible 
and  Church  have  been  and  are,  as  conservators 
and  transmitters  of  the  truth ;  but  rather  upon 
the  bedrock  of  historic  facts  and  of  present- 
day  evidences  of  the  Living  Christ? 

If  an  increasing  number  of  the  thoughtful 
men  of  our  age,  as  a  result  of  thorough  con¬ 
sideration  of  these  facts  and  reasons,  have  been 
led  to  believe  in  Christ  as  Lord  and  to  yield 
themselves  to  His  sway,  is  not  the  presump¬ 
tion  overwhelming  that  any  among  us  who 
have  not  so  believed  on  Him  and  do  not  so  be¬ 
lieve  will  likewise  receive  essential  light  and 
strength  if  we  will  but  travel  over  the  same 
path  and  comply  with  the  same  conditions? 
In  indicating  the  reasons  why  young  men  have 
come  into  this  vital  belief  in  Jesus  Christ,  I 
have  used  the  figure  of  their  traveling  over 
certain  paths  which  have  led  them  into  this 
reality.  We  have  observed  that  each  one  of 
these  paths  alone,  quite  apart  from  the  others, 
has  been  found  sufficient  to  lead  numbers  of 
open-minded  and  purposeful  men  into  this  be¬ 
lief.  If  any  one  of  these  paths  does  not  appeal 
to  some  of  us  as  one  along  which  we  should  like 
to  travel,  I  remind  you  that  there  still  remain 
four  other  paths  which  have  been  largely  used 

[168] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


and  which  have  terminated  in  satisfying  belief 
and  experience.  Another  figure  might  be  em¬ 
ployed.  Instead  of  the  five  paths  that  have 
been  indicated,  we  might  regard  these  five 
groups  of  experiences  of  men  as  constituting 
five  strong  strands  of  a  great  cable.  Suppose 
it  be  conceded  that  one  of  the  strands  is  not 
strong  (I  know  not  of  which  one  this  could 
be  said,  for  to  my  certain  knowledge  each  one 
of  them  has  proved  to  be  sufficiently  strong  to 
anchor  the  faith  of  a  large  number  of  men), 
let  us  be  reminded  that  there  still  remain  four 
more  strands  any  one  of  them  in  the  fight  of 
my  experience  and  observation  being  ample  to 
hold  us  all  steadfastly  and  unshakably  in  the 
conviction  of  the  reality  of  this  central  fact  of 
the  Christian  faith — the  deity  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  logic  of  the  whole  matter  is  that  any  one 
who  does  not  believe  in  the  deity  of  Jesus 
Christ  should  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  study 
thoroughly  and  honestly  the  evidence.  Let  it 
not  be  said  of  any  of  us  that  we  were  too  busy 
to  investigate  the  subject.  Let  it  not  be  said 
of  any  of  us  that  we  were  too  lazy  to  do  so. 
It  will  take  energy;  it  will  take  time.  Let  it 
not  be  said  of  any  of  us  that  we  were  too  preju¬ 
diced  to  make  the  investigation.  That  should 

[169] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

never  be  said  of  any  open-minded,  fair-minded 
young  man.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  any  one 
here  was  afraid  to  study  Christ.  Let  us  like 
true  men  be  courageous  and  not  shrink  from 
the  truth,  especially  this  great  Source  of 
Truth,  Jesus  Christ.  The  other  day  a  man 
complained  to  me  that  he  could  not  believe  in 
the  deity  of  Christ.  I  said  to  him  that  no  man 
can  compel  himself  to  believe  anything  with 
reference  to  Christ.  I  asked  him,  however, 
whether  he  could  not  compel  himself  to  ma¬ 
triculate,  as  it  were,  in  the  school  of  Christ 
and  leam  of  Him  as  he  would  from  any  other 
great  teacher;  whether  he  could  not  compel 
himself  to  follow  Christ  as  fast  as  his  reason 
and  enlightened  conscience  convinced  him  that 
Christ  revealed  the  truth ;  whether  he  could  not 
bring  to  bear  his  mind  at  its  best  in  sincere  de¬ 
sire  to  find  and  obey  the  truth;  whether  he 
could  not  employ  the  best  scientific  and  histori¬ 
cal  methods  to  help  him  in  his  study;  whether 
he  could  not  bring  to  this  vital  quest  an  open 
mind,  an  honest  heart,  and  a  responsive  will. 
He  conceded  that  all  this  was  within  his  power 
and  would  be  possible.  I  then  said  to  him  to 
do  these  things  and  he  need  have  no  trouble  as 
to  his  belief,  because  as  I  pointed  out,  Christ 

[170] 


JESUS  CHRIST  AS  LORD 


will  make  His  own  impression.  And  the  in¬ 
evitable  result  will  be  a  belief  with  real,  living, 
and  ever-growing  content.  Above  all,  if  this 
subject  is  to  mean  what  it  should  mean  to  us, 
let  us  yield  ourselves  to  the  sovereign  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  no  man  can  say  that 
Jesus  is  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  say 
this  in  no  cant  or  pietistic  sense.  On  the 
authority  of  Christ  Himself  and  in  the  light  of 
experience,  the  Spirit  must  flood  the  pages  of 
the  Scripture  record.  He  must  illumine  our 
minds  that  we  may  see  things  as  they  are, 
kindle  our  hearts  that  we  may  be  responsive  to 
the  truth,  and  energize  our  wills  that  we  may 
obey  the  truth. 


[171] 


VII 

OUR  GREATEST  NEED- 
A  FRESH  ACCESSION 
OF  VITAL  ENERGY 


VII 


Our  Greatest  Need — A  Fresh  Accession 

of  Vital  Energy 

AN  EASTER  MESSAGE 

Easter  commemorates  the  Resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  central  event  of  our  faith 
made  possible  liberating  in  the  lives  of  men 
marvelous,  even  infinite  energies.  Doubt¬ 
less  St.  Paul  realized  this  when  he  prayed  that 
he  “might  know  the  power  of  His  Resurrec¬ 
tion.”  No  more  dynamic  petition  can  be 
offered  by  us,  and  no  more  germinating  or 
creative  hope  can  be  entertained  by  us,  than 
that  we  and  those  whom  we  represent  and  in¬ 
fluence  may  come  to  know  personally  the  won¬ 
drous  power  of  Christ’s  Resurrection.  Is  this 
not  our  greatest  need  as  individuals  and  as  a 
Movement?  The  entering  upon  a  new  Easter¬ 
tide  opens  to  the  members  of  the  Association 
Brotherhood  a  gateway  of  limitless  possi¬ 
bilities. 


[175] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

Christ’s  Resurrection  has  power  to  vitalize 
faith.  From  the  days  of  the  early  Christians 
the  Resurrection  has  been  the  cornerstone 
apologetic.  In  eveiy  generation,  discerning 
Christians  have  recognized  the  evidential  value 
of  this  cardinal  point  of  the  Christian  faith. 
They  have  been  willing,  with  the  great  apostle, 
to  stake  the  whole  argument  for  the  validity  of 
the  Christian  religion  on  this  momentous  event, 
and  have  frankly  conceded  that  if  He  be  not 
risen,  the  Christians  are  of  all  men  most  miser¬ 
able.  In  my  travels  among  the  nations  I  have 
again  and  again  been  impressed  by  the  way 
in  which  this  basic  fact  is  accepted  as  a  sure 
foundation  for  Christian  faith.  No  modem 
apologetic  for  the  Resurrection  can  or  ever 
will  take  the  place  of  such  arguments  as 
that  from  the  testimony  of  witnesses ;  or 
that  from  the  stupendous  changes  in  charac¬ 
ter  and  action  in  the  early  disciples  of  Christ 
between  the  time  immediately  after  the  Cruci¬ 
fixion  and  the  period  following  the  alleged 
Resurrection;  or  that  from  the  universally  ac¬ 
cepted  place  and  influence  of  this  great  event 
within  two  or  three  decades  in  the  life  and  be¬ 
lief  of  the  Churches  all  over  the  Roman  Em¬ 
pire  ;  or  that  from  the  world-wide  spread,  and 

[176] 


AN  EASTER  MESSAGE 


the  profound  and  beneficent  influence  of  the 
Christian  Church  through  all  the  centuries. 
In  a  day  of  world-upheaval  and  re-examina¬ 
tion  of  all  foundations,  let  our  convictions  be 
clarified  and  fortified  by  the  secure  power  of 
such  solid,  unshakable  foundations  for  our 
faith. 

Christ’s  Resurrection  has  power  to  energize 
life.  The  recent  years  through  which  we  have 
been  passing  have  been  devitalizing  in  their 
effects.  Men  everywhere  have  paid  out  vital 
energy  with  prodigal  hand.  Most  men  are 
keenly  conscious  of  depletion  and  exhaustion. 
Every  unselfish  society  and  movement,  like¬ 
wise,  stands  in  imperative  need  of  fresh  acces¬ 
sions  of  living  power.  On  the  authority  of 
Christ  Himself,  men  were  to  come  under  the 
spell  of  an  influence  infinitely  greater  than 
their  own  when,  through  His  Spirit,  His 
Resurrection  power  came  upon  them.  Where 
is  the  Christian  worker,  where  is  the  Chris¬ 
tian  layman,  where  is  the  ambitious  student 
who  does  not  crave  added  spiritual  power?  If 
men  are  to  win  out  over  incitements  from 
within  or  without  to  descend  from  the  higher 
to  the  lower  levels  of  their  nature,  it  is  abso¬ 
lutely  imperative  that  they  have  the  power  of 

[177] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


that  Christ  who  conquered  death  and  opened 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  unto  all  believers. 
If  men  are  to  wage  successful  warfare  against 
the  forces  of  sin  and  shame,  against  all  influ¬ 
ences  tending  to  disintegrate  faith  and  blast 
character,  they  must  yield  themselves  to  the 
sway  of  a  Living  Christ.  If  men  are  to  con¬ 
quer  the  baffling  social,  inter-racial,  and  in¬ 
ternational  problems  and  bring  all  human  rela¬ 
tionships  under  the  rule  of  Christ,  they  must 
indeed  come  to  know  the  power  of  His  Resur¬ 
rection  to  regenerate,  to  transform,  and  to 
control. 

Christ’s  Resurrection  has  power  to  har¬ 
monize  the  divided  forces  of  mankind.  In  the^ 
darkest  hour  of  the  war  I  had  a  conversation 
with  a  member  of  a  leading  royal  family — a 
woman  of  rare  elevation  of  soul,  of  deep  spir¬ 
itual  penetration,  and  of  genuine  Christlike- 
ness.  In  answer  to  the  question  as  to  how  she 
thought  the  war  could  be  ended,  she  said,  “God 
must  do  a  wonder  work — must  manifest  His 
power.”  In  some  respects  mankind  is  at  a 
point  of  greater  extremity  today  than  it  was 
then.  All  over  the  world  we  now  see  startling 
exhibitions  of  the  divisive  influences  among 
men — in  the  social  realm,  in  inter-racial  con- 

[178] 


AN  EASTER  MESSAGE 

tacts,  in  international  relations,  and  among 
religious  forces.  Nothing  short  of  the  power 
of  One  who  in  order  to  heal  the  earth’s  hates, 
divisions,  and  strifes,  died  on  the  Cross,  but 
who  is  now  alive  for  evermore,  can  harmonize 
the  discords  of  the  world. 

Admiral  Baron  Kato,  after  describing  to 
me  the  exacting  and  most  difficult  work  of  the 
Washington  Conference,  added,  “We  must 
now  look  to  the  leaders  of  religion.”  You  will 
recall  that  Mr.  Balfour  emphasized  the  same 
thought  on  his  return  to  England.  Thus  they 
as  much  as  said,  statecraft  and  diplomacy  have 
done  their  best,  but  they  will  fail  unless  supple¬ 
mented  by  the  light,  energy  and  life  of  true 
religion.  How  true  this  is!  When  Christ 
came  forth  from  the  tomb  He  released  a  new 
power,  one  adequate  to  draw  together  all 
classes,  nations,  and  races. 

Christ’s  Resurrection  has  power  to  help 
realize  the  central  objective  of  the  Association 
Brotherhood.  The  goal  which  the  leaders  of 
the  North  American  Associations  have  set  be¬ 
fore  us  at  this  time  is  to  augment  the  spiritual 
vitality  and  fruitfulness  of  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association,  as  the  servant  of  the 
Churches,  through  confronting  young  men  and 

[179] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

boys  with  the  Living  Christ.  In  fixing  the 
gaze  primarily  on  the  Living  Christ  we  do  not 
overlook  the  Cross  on  a  lonely  hill  where  for 
us  and  for  our  sins  He  suffered.  It  is  this  dark 
and  mysterious  background  which  lends  deeper 
meaning  to  the  open  grave.  Never  will  the 
constraining  memories  of  that  Cross  and  of  the 
love  wherewith  He  hath  loved  every  one  of  us, 
fail  to  move  us  with  emotions  of  contrition  and 
gratitude.  But  the  Living  Christ  is  the  Foun¬ 
tain  Head  of  our  spiritual  hope  and  vitality 
as  an  organization.  Dr.  Dale,  the  great 
preacher  of  Birmingham,  bore  testimony  that 
it  was  the  breaking  in  upon  him  of  the  simple 
and  irresistible  logic  of  the  reflection,  “Christ 
lives,”  that  transformed  his  message  and  his 
preaching.  So  may  the  significance  of  this 
central  fact  of  our  faith,  lay  powerful  hold 
upon  each  one  of  us.  If  Christ  lives,  then  we 
are  not  alone.  In  proportion  to  the  convic¬ 
tion,  faithfulness,  and  passion  with  which  we 
by  life,  by  word,  and  by  united  propaganda, 
confront  the  oncoming  generation  with  Christ 
alive  for  evermore,  will  be  the  extent,  depth, 
and  transforming  power  of  the  influence  of 
the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association. 

On  my  continent-wide  tour  among  the  As- 

[180] 


AN  EASTER  MESSAGE 


sociations  of  North  America,  which  is  taking 
me  to  more  than  thirty  States  and  Provinces, 
at  every  stage  of  the  journey,  I  am  receiving 
striking  confirmation  of  the  life-giving  and 
contagious  power  of  this  eternal  vision. 
Everywhere  the  doors  are  wide  open.  Let  me 
reiterate  also  that  in  every  section,  all  classes 
of  young  men  and  boys  are  accessible  to  this 
life-giving  Gospel;  and,  what  is  more  signifi¬ 
cant,  they  are  on  every  hand  responsive  to  the 
call  of  Christ — Christ  the  Life,  as  well  as  the 
.Way  and  the  Truth.  It  has  reminded  me 
again  and  again  of  my  most  vital  experiences 
in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Latin  America,  and  above 
all,  of  those  during  the  recent  tragic  years  in 
Europe.  The  filling  of  millions  of  graves  of 
soldiers  and  sailors,  and  the  long-drawn-out 
sufferings  of  whole  peoples,  like  the  Crucifix¬ 
ion  of  our  Lord  Himself,  have  prepared  the 
way  for  spiritual  harvests  the  like  of  which  the 
world  has  never  known.  Let  us  with  unshak¬ 
able  and  triumphant  faith  enter  into  the  herit¬ 
age  prepared  by  the  sufferings,  the  tears,  and 
the  intercessions  across  the  breadth  of  the 
world,  by  ourselves  laying  hold  of  a  fresh  ac¬ 
cession  of  vital  energy— the  power  of  His 
Resurrection. 


[181] 


VIII 

HOW  AUGMENT  THE 
LEADERSHIP  OF 
THE  CHRISTIAN  FORCES 


VIII 


How  Augment  the  Leadership  of  the 

Christian  Forces 

I  wish  to  share  one  of  the  heaviest  burdens 
which,  in  common  with  some  of  you,  I  have, 
and  that  is  a  burden  of  solicitude  with  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  coming  leadership  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  forces.  Expressed  more  concretely,  How 
can  we  secure  for  the  Christian  ministry,  for 
the  missionary  work  of  the  Churches  at  home 
and  abroad,  for  the  secretaryship  of  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  and  other  aux¬ 
iliary  agencies  of  the  Churches,  a  larger  num¬ 
ber  of  the  very  strongest  young  men  and  boys 
of  the  oncoming  generation?  You  will  agree 
with  me  that  this  is  a  problem  of  pressing  con¬ 
cern.  It  involves  the  very  life  and  spread  of 
the  Christian  religion  and  the  establishment 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Let  us  first  consider  briefly  why  there  is 
need  of  enlisting  many  of  the  choicest  spirits 

•k-~  - 

among  the  youth  of  our  day  for  the  supremely 

[185]  ' 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

important  work  of  Christian  leadership.  Many 
are  needed  in  order  to  fill  the  gaps  which  now 
exist  in  so  many  places  in  the  ranks  of  Chris¬ 
tian  leadership.  It  is  alarming  to  observe  as 
one  travels  across  the  continent  and  as  one 
visits  the  mission  fields,  how  many  key  posi¬ 
tions  in  the  work  of  Christ  are  today  vacant 
because  of  the  paucity  in  the  number  of  avail¬ 
able  workers  possessing  the  requisite  qualifica¬ 
tions.  Large  numbers  of  able  men  are  needed 
to  provide  a  worthy  succession  for  many  thou¬ 
sands  now  in  posts  of  leadership  who,  as  a  re¬ 
sult  of  bearing  the  strain  for  two,  three,  or 
more  decades,  and  especially  as  a  result  of 
paying  out  vitality  so  prodigally  during  the 
recent  exhausting  years,  must  soon  hand  over 
their  responsibilities  to  others.  The  most  opti¬ 
mistic  students  of  the  sources  of  supply  whom 
I  know,  do  not  see  a  sufficient  number  of 
properly  qualified  men  in  line  of  succession. 
How  true  it  is  also  that  large  numbers  of  ad¬ 
ditional  workers  of  large  capacity  are  required 
to  supersede  many  who  today  are  holding  posi¬ 
tions  of  responsibility  simply  because  there 
are  not  available  men  properly  equipped  to  fill 
these  positions.  Is  this  hot  one  of  the  reasons 
why  the  cause  of  Christ  is  marking  time  in  so 

[186] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


many  places,  and,  likewise,  why  the  problems 
in  front  of  organized  Christianity  are  not  more 
rapidly  solved? 

The  standards  for  the  leadership  of  the 
Churches  and  of  kindred  religious  societies 
have  wisely  been  raised  in  recent  years  and 
must  be  still  further  raised.  This  is  due  to 
the  growing  complexity  and  difficulty  of  the 
work  of  the  Church.  Never  did  it  seem  quite 
so  difficult  to  me  as  it  does  at  the  present  time. 
To  meet  these  more  exacting  requirements, 
necessitates  the  raising  up  and  training  of  in¬ 
creasing  numbers  of  the  ablest  youth. 

To  assimilate  into  the  Church  of  Christ  the 
streams  of  alien  peoples  coming  into  North 
America  calls  for  additional  workers  especially 
qualified  for  the  task.  Men  of  large  mind, 
heart,  and  faith  are  needed;  men,  likewise, 
with  special  preparation  to  understand  the 
antecedents  and  background  of  foreign  peo¬ 
ples,  to  appreciate  sympathetically  their  na¬ 
tional,  racial,  and  religious  prejudices,  to  adapt 
the  message  and  fnethods  to  the  point  of  view 
of  the  mentality  of  these  peoples,  and,  above 
all,  to  discover  and  utilize  the  strong  qualities 
possessed  by  every  nation  and  race.  As  we 
think  of  our  many  and  growing  cities  with 

[187] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


their  present-day  requirements,  we  must  be 
convinced  that  there  is  need  of  increasing  the 
number  of  well-qualified  leaders.  The  cities 
are  not  only  centers  of  population,  wealth, 
education,  and  influence,  but  also,  and  more 
than  ever,  centers  of  unrest,  lawlessness,  and 
strife. 

As  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Social 
and  Religious  Surveys,  which  Committee  is 
furthering  the  scientific  study  of  various  fields 
and  problems  of  the  Christian  Churches  and 
of  Christian  social  betterment  enterprises,  I 
have  been  greatly  impressed  with  the  need  of 
a  new  leadership  for  these  city  communities. 
A  study  of  the  investigations  and  surveys 
already  made  in  certain  typical,  medium-sized 
and  large  cities,  has  afforded  convincing  evi¬ 
dence  of  the  need  of  re-thinking  and  re-stating 
the  Christian  strategy  of  the  Churches  in  such 
places.  Let  us  pray  God,  therefore,  for 
workers  for  this  task  and  use  all  wise  and  fruit¬ 
ful  human  means  to  discover  and  train  them. 
The  same  should  be  said  with  reference  to  the 
work  of  the  Church  in  the  countryside  or  rural 
communities.  Our  Committee  have  made  a 
classification  of  the  three  thousand  counties  of 
the  United  States  and  have  made  studies  of 

[188] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


groups  of  counties  of  some  sixteen  types. 
These  investigations  have  made  clear  that  we 
require  just  as  able  men  to  lead  in  the  plan¬ 
ning  and  directing  of  its  work  in  these  com¬ 
munities  as  in  the  cities. 

In  order  to  deal  successfully  with  what 
many  regard  as  the  most  important  and  emer¬ 
gent  problems  before  the  Church,  there  is  im¬ 
perative  need  of  augmenting  the  leadership 
of  the  Christian  forces.  Among  these  most 
critical  and  urgent  problems  may  be  indicated : 
to  restate  the  Christian  message,  while  pre¬ 
serving  its  unchanging,  essential  content,  in 
terms  which  will  command  the  intellectual  con¬ 
fidence  and  following  of  the  most  alert  and 
inquiring  generation  the  world  has  ever 
known;  to  bring  to  bear  the  wondrous  Chris¬ 
tian  Gospel  on  the  obstinate  and  serious  social 
facts  of  modern  times,  especially  in  the  field  of 
industry;  to  Christianize  the  relations  between 
the  races  where  we  find  today  multiplying  and 
highly  inflamed  friction  points;  and  to  bring 
international  relations  under  the  sway  of  the 
principles  and  spirit  of  Christ.  Here  are  ques¬ 
tions  that  in  themselves  call  for  new  and  great 
leadership. 

How  great  the  need  of  calling  forth  more 

[189] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

largely  the  comparatively  latent  lay  forces  of 
Christianity.  If  this  is  to  be  accomplished,  we 
must  have  in  positions  of  leadership  a  much 
larger  number  of  men  of  outstanding  ability. 
In  reading  the  story  of  his  life  by  Dr.  Rains- 
ford,  of  New  York,  one  is  impressed  with  his 
success  in  enlisting  the  cooperation  of  leading 
laymen  of  that  great  metropolis.  It  requires 
strong  men  in  the  pulpit  to  fill  the  pews  with 
strong  men,  and,  above  all,  to  send  them  forth 
from  the  pews  to  apply  within  the  sphere  of 
their  daily  life  and  opportunities  what  they 
have  heard  from  the  messengers  of  God  in  the 
pulpits.  Here  we  recognize  the  need  of  mul¬ 
tiplying  the  number  of  well  educated  men  who 
likewise  possess  the  requisite  fundamental 
strong  points  for  the  secretaryship  of  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association.  If  this, 
the  greatest  lay  movement  in  the  life  of  the 
Church,  is  to  go  from  strength  to  strength 
in  its  service  for  the  Churches,  great  is  the  need 
of  scaling  up  the  general  average  of  qualifica¬ 
tions  for  such  leadership. 

To  guide  the  irresistible  movement  in  the 
direction  of  closer  cooperation,  federation,  and 
unity  among  the  Protestant  Christian  forces, 
there  is  need  of  developing  men  of  the  largest 

[190] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


mold  and  furnishing  for  all  kinds  of  positions 
of  large  responsibility  in  the  Churches.  This 
Movement  cannot  be  resisted.  It  is,  however, 
a  Movement  attended  with  real  perils,  as  is 
the  case  wherever  any  energies  are  called  forth 
or  coordinated  and  combined.  How  to  main- 
tain  the  priceless  tradition  and  utilize  the  rich 
and  providential  experience  of  each  of  our 
Christian  communions,  large  and  small,  ob¬ 
scure  and  conspicuous,  while  at  the  same  time 
laying  hold  of  the  new  values  which  result 
from  drawing  together  the  Christians  who 
acknowledge  the  one  Divine  Lord,  is  indeed  a 
work  calling  for  the  highest  gifts  of  Christian 
statesmanship.  When  we  pray,  therefore,  for 
the  unification  of  Christians,  let  us  not  fail  to 
pray  for  workers  to  guide  wisely  this  process. 

To  develop  here  in  North  America  a  more 
nearly  adequate  base  for  the  world-wide  war 
of  Christian  missions,  presents  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  clamant  demands  for  aug¬ 
menting  the  forces  of  leadership.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  movements  of  Protestant  Christendom  , 
are  facing  today  unprecedented  opportunities 
in  all  quarters  of  the  non-Christian  world.  The 
multiplied  dangers  accentuate,  similarly,  the 
urgency  of  the  world  situation.  The  exhaus- 

[191] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


tion  of  so  many  other  lands  through  the  im¬ 
possible  drain  on  vital  and  material  resources 
to  which  they  have  been  subjected  in  recent 
years,  accentuates  the  responsibility  of  the 
American  Churches.  Where  have  we  the  right 
to  look  with  such  confidence  for  the  greatly 
needed  numbers  of  missionaries  and  of  mis¬ 
sionary  administrators  as  right  here  at  home? 

Some  one  has  asked  me  to  indicate  what  we 
have  in  view  when  we  speak  of  the  need  of 
securing  for  Christian  leadership  more  of  the 
strongest  young  men  and  boys.  Surely  it 
means  young  men  of  vision.  This  is  a  gift  of 
youth  but  unhappily  all  youth  do  not  possess 
it.  It  means  also  young  men  of  personality. 
This  is  a  hard  word  to  define,  but  we  all  under¬ 
stand  what  it  means.  Strong  young  men  are 
those  who  possess  the  power  of  growth  and 
who  are  determined  to  continue  to  grow  all  the 
days  of  their  lives.  We  need,  moreover,  young 
men  who  will  stay  in  training  longer  than  their 
predecessors,  as  a  rule,  have  done,  because  a 
broader  and  deeper  foundation  is  needed  to 
bear  the  larger  superstructure  which  must  be 
built  in  the  coming  days.  We  need  among  the 
new  leaders  men  of  great  ethical  and  social 
passion  and  concern.  Chiefly,  however,  do 

[192] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


we  need  men  of  deep  and  genuine  personal  ex¬ 
perience  of  Jesus  Christ — an  experience  au¬ 
thentic,  vital,  and,  therefore,  truly  first-hand. 

It  is  interesting  to  remind  ourselves  of  the 
principal  recruiting  officers  in  the  years  that 
are  gone.  A  few  years  ago  I  made  a  some¬ 
what  extensive  study  of  the  factors  and  influ¬ 
ences  entering  into  the  decisions  of  several 
thousand  men  who  had  decided  to  become  min¬ 
isters.  This  study  was  supplemented  by  re¬ 
viewing  the  biographies  of  several  hundred 
leading  ministers  of  various  communions. 
Both  studies  indicated  that  the  mothers  had 
been,  up  to  that  time,  the  principal  influence  to 
which  these  men  attributed  their  decision. 

A  close  second  was  found  to  be  the  various 
voluntary  Christian  societies  of  students.  We 
speak  of  these  popularly  as  the  Christian  Stu¬ 
dent  Movement,  which  goes  by  different  names 
in  different  countries.  Here  in  America  we 
call  it  the  Student  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association.  We  also  have  the  Student  Vol¬ 
unteer  Movement.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
overstate  the  power  and  fruitfulness  of  these 
last  named  movements  as  recruiting  agencies. 
More  recent  studies  give  one  the  impression 
that  the  Student  Movement  in  general  in  the 

[193] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

different  countries  has  now  become  the  princi¬ 
pal  factor  in  securing  decisions  to  enter  the 
so-called  Christian  callings,  such  as  the  min¬ 
istry,  the  missionary  service,  and  the  Associa¬ 
tion  Secretaryship.  Speaking  of  the  Student 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  reminds 
us  of  the  general  Young  Men’s  Christian  As¬ 
sociation  Movement  both  in  the  cities  and  in 
the  rural  communities.  Through  its  Hi  Y 
Clubs,  which  have  been  recently  organized, 
some  of  the  most  effective  work  is  now  being 
done  to  direct  the  abler  and  more  promising 
boys  to  enter  such  callings. 

In  countries  like  England  and  South  Africa, 
school-masters  seem  to  have  been  one  of  the 
most  potent  factors  in  directing  the  lives  of 
boys  into  the  service  of  the  Church.  Unfor¬ 
tunately  we  cannot  say  as  much  in  this  country, 
although  there  are  fortunate  exceptions. 
Would  that  the  day  might  come  when,  in  con¬ 
nection  with  every  high  school  of  the  land,  as 
well  as  in  the  private  and  denominational 
schools,  we  could  say  that  there  are  one  or  more 
influential  and  wise  teachers  who,  outside  their 
official  duties,  use  their  influence  in  giving  un¬ 
selfish  vocational  guidance  to  the  boys  of  finest 
parts.  While  the  professors  in  theological 

[194] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


seminaries  still  continue  to  use  their  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  recruiting  young  men  for  the 
ministry  at  home  and  abroad,  all  too  few  pro¬ 
fessors  in  the  colleges  and  universities  are  util¬ 
izing  their  opportunity  in  this  respect.  This 
is  indeed  serious.  There  is  danger  lest  in  the 
American  and  Canadian  universities  the  pro¬ 
fessors,  like  those  in  the  German  universities, 
become  more  concerned  with  developing  sub¬ 
jects  than  with  developing  men.  Truly  both 
processes  are  important  and  need  not  exclude 
each  other;  but  just  now  there  is  unmistakably 
real  need  of  emphasizing  the  recruiting  func¬ 
tion  of  the  Christian  professor,  no  matter  what 
chair  he  holds. 

The  Christian  ministers  themselves  the 
world  over  have  ever  been  one  of  the  principal 
influences  in  attracting  young  men  into  the 
ministry  as  a  life  work.  Sometimes  they  have 
achieved  large  results  through  their  sermons, 
appealing  directly  to  the  boys  and  young  men 
in  their  congregations.  Even  more  fruitful 
have  been  their  personal  interviews  and  per¬ 
sonal  correspondence  following  up  such  public 
appeals.  In  these  days  there  is  need  of  preach¬ 
ing  to  parents  because  in  so  many  cases  the 
conversations  with  the  sons  reveal  the  fact  that 

[195] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


it  is  the  attitude  of  the  parents  which  stands 
in  the  way  of  their  sons  entering  such  a  call¬ 
ing  as  the  ministry.  It  is  the  life  of  the  min¬ 
ister  which  after  all  gives  contagious  effect  to 
his  words.  It  was  said  of  Phillips  Brooks  that 
if  he  walked  across  Harvard  Yard  it  would 
lead  young  men  into  the  ministry.  This  great 
personality — great  in  body,  mind,  and  soul — 
with  his  pervading  sense  of  the  nobility,  gran¬ 
deur,  and  sacredness  of  his  calling,  attracted 
like  a  powerful  magnet  strong  individuals  to 
the  service  of  the  Church.  Thus  it  is  with  lead¬ 
ing  ministers  everywhere,  such  traits  as  reality, 
a  forward  looking  attitude,  heroism  in  the  ap¬ 
plication  of  the  principles  of  Christ  to  the 
problems  of  the  day,  open-mindedness  and 
tolerance,  genuine  spirituality,  constitute  the 
media  through  which  Christ  extends  His  calls. 

Whether  we  are  ministers,  Association  sec¬ 
retaries,  student  workers,  school  masters,  or 
professors,  what  is  the  secret  of  securing  for 
the  leadership  of  the  Christian  forces  larger 
numbers  of  the  kind  of  young  men  and  boys 
we  have  in  view?  In  the  first  place,  let  us 
become  alarmed  with  reference  to  the  extensive 
and  urgent  need  of  securing  in  the  near  future 
such  re-enforcements.  N ext  to  the  withdrawal 

[196] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


of  the  presence  of  Christ,  what  greater  calam¬ 
ity  could  visit  the  Christian  Church  than  to 
be  lacking  a  sufficient  number  of  young  men 
of  outstanding  capacity  and  equipment  for  the 
direction  of  its  work? 

Let  us  look  upon  recruiting  for  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  the  Christian  forces  as  the  most  im¬ 
portant  single  thing  we  have  to  do.  If  any  one 
of  us  thinks  he  has  something  else  to  do  which 
is  even  a  little  more  important  than  this,  then 
he  is  not  likely  to  secure  large  results  in  the 
way  of  new  and  capable  recruits.  The  reason 
is  that  one’s  appeal  will  lack  that  intensity  and 
communicative  power  which  are  necessary  to 
secure  the  desired  results.  Was  it  not  John 
Morley  who  emphasized  the  fact  that  he  who 
does  the  work  is  not  so  profitably  employed 
as  he  who  multiplies  the  doers.  If  any  man 
here  thinks  that  he  has  any  other  work  more 
profitable,  more  highly-multiplying,  than  that 
of  drawing  into  Christian  service,  through  the 
power  of  Christ,  men  of  ability,  some  of  whom 
will  carry  forward  the  work  long  after  we  have 
gone  and  some  of  whom  may  likewise  accom¬ 
plish  a  far  greater  work  than  we  ourselves, 
surely  he  has  lost  his  perspective  and  sense  of 
proportion. 


[197] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


This  matter  of  securing  recruits  should  be¬ 
come  a  second  nature  with  us.  We  can  all 
think  of  men  to  whom  the  discovery  and  utiliz¬ 
ing  of  financial  leads  has  become  a  second 
nature.  We  can  also  think  of  men  with  whom 
the  discerning  of  spiritual  meanings  in  all 
phases  of  life  is  a  second  nature.  Why  should 
not  this  work  of  multiplying  our  number  enter 
so  deeply  into  our  convictions,  longings,  and 
purposes,  that  it  would  likewise  dominate  us? 

We  should  expect  to  find  that  for  which  we 
are  seeking.  One  day  a  young  preacher  com¬ 
plained  to  Spurgeon  that  he  did  not  have  more 
conversions.  Spurgeon  said  to  him,  “You  do 
not  expect  to  have  conversions  after  every  ser¬ 
mon,  do  you?” 

The  man  replied,  “I  do  not  know  that  I  do 
expect  to  have  converts  as  a  result  of  every 
sermon.” 

“That,”  said  Spurgeon,  “is  the  reason  why 
you  do  not  have  converts  after  every  sermon.” 

If  any  of  us  do  not  expect  within  the  sphere 
of  our  acquaintance  constantly  to  discover  men 
for  unselfish  service,  certainly  we  shall  not  find 
them. 

We  should  make  an  heroic  appeal  if  we  ex¬ 
pect  to  attract  the  strongest  natures  to  Chris- 

[198] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


tian  work  as  a  life  work.  It  takes  an  heroic 
appeal  to  call  forth  the  heroic  response.  Time 
after  time  I  have  found  in  my  work  among 
students  and  other  young  men,  that  if  I  pre¬ 
sent  a  choice  between  self-interest  and  self- 
sacrifice,  the  strongest  and  most  heroic  spirits 
respond  to  the  sacrificial  appeal.  How  true 
this  was  in  the  pathway  of  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  Christ,  who  ever  called  upon  men  to 
count  the  cost  and  who  never  hid  His  scars  to 
win  a  disciple  or  a  worker.  In  waging  the 
propaganda  of  the  Volunteer  Movement  on 
behalf  of  the  great  citadels  of  the  non-Chris¬ 
tian  world,  countless  times  we  have  had  proof 
that  if  you  make  the  Gospel  difficult,  you  make 
it  triumphant. 

We  should  lay  siege  to  strong  men.  One  of 
the  evidences  that  a  man  possesses  exceptional 
strength  is  the  fact  that  his  mind  is,  as  a  rule, 
made  up  with  reference  to  the  use  of  his  life. 
Often  this  has  been  done  without  his  having 
taken  into  account  all  the  evidence  as  to  the 
opportunities  and  challenges  of  his  day.  To 
persuade  such  natures  requires  nothing  less 
than  siege  work.  Sometimes  I  think  we  do 
not  deserve  to  get  a  larger  number  of  the 
strongest  men,  as  I  think  of  the  relatively  weak 

[199] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 


and  poorly  sustained  efforts  which  we  put 
forth  to  win  them.  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that 
there  have  been  times  in  my  own  busy  life 
when,  because  I  could  not  persuade  a  man  in 
a  fifteen-minute  interview  to  devote  his  life  to 
some  altruistic  calling,  I  have  assumed  that  it 
was  not  the  will  of  God  that  he  should  do  so. 
What  a  superficial  judgment  and  what  a  dan¬ 
gerous  habit  to  have  drifted  into.  If  we  are 
sure  that  we  have  the  truth  on  our  side,  and 
after  prayer  have  been  impelled  to  present  a 
great  and  an  unselfish  opportunity  to  a  young 
man,  we  should  not  lightly  turn  from  him, 
simply  because  at  first  our  message  does  not 
seem  to  appeal  to  him.  Some  of  the  most  nota¬ 
ble  leaders  in  the  work  of  Christ  have  been  won 
only  after  renewed  and  patient  efforts. 

Of  supreme  importance  in  the  work  of  re¬ 
cruiting  for  the  leadership  of  the  Christian 
forces  is  genuine  intercession.  Christ  was  fa¬ 
miliar  with  the  problem  of  the  want  of 
laborers.  In  language  which  cannot  have  two 
interpretations  he  has,  for  all  time,  let  us  into 
the  inner  secret,  “The  harvest  truly  is  great, 
but  the  laborers  are  few.  Pray  ye,  therefore, 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He  thrust  forth 
laborers  into  His  harvest.”  In  view  of  this 

[200] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


unmistakably  clear  direction,  why  is  it  that 
so  many  of  us  have  so  frequently  lost  sight  of 
it  and  have  done  almost  everything  else  save 
this  one  most  important  thing?  Let  me  quite 
frankly  seek  to  answer  this  question  in  the  light 
of  my  own  shortcomings  or  sins  of  omission 
and  in  the  light  of  confessions  of  others  like 
ourselves  who  have  unburdened  their  con¬ 
sciences  to  me.  At  times  we  have  not  prayed 
for  laborers  because  we  were  unbelieving.  To 
pray  God  to  separate  the  men  unto  the  work 
whereunto  He  has  called  them,  shows  clearly 
that  we  look  upon  the  matter  of  securing 
laborers  as  a  superhuman  undertaking.  Not 
to  pray  indicates,  does  it  not,  that  we  think  of 
it  as  a  merely  human  process?  At  other  times 
we  did  not  pray  because  we  were  egotistical. 
In  substance  we  said:  “If  we  can  present  our 
arguments  to  young  men  with  lucidity  and 
force,  if  we  can  expose  them  to  certain  person¬ 
alities  and  conferences,  if  we  can  induce  them 
to  read  certain  pamphlets  and  books — then  we 
shall  most  certainly  succeed  in  enlisting  them.” 
In  other  words,  we  depended  in  the  last  analy¬ 
sis  and  in  practice  solely  on  human  means  and, 
therefore,  had  relatively  meager  results  to 
show. 


[201] 


CONFRONTING  MEN  WITH  CHRIST 

Again  we  did  not  pray  as  we  should  at  times, 
because  we  were  selfish.  Intercessory  prayer 
is  the  most  intense  act  that  a  man  performs, 
and  some  of  us,  to  tell  the  truth,  have  at  times 
been  unwilling  to  pay  the  price  involved  in 
actually  giving  ourselves,  not  simply  our 
words,  to  unselfish  prayer.  There  have  been 
other  times  when  we  did  not  pray  because  we 
were  too  busy.  Too  busy  to  do  the  most  highly 
multiplying  work  in  which  man  can  ever 
engage !  What  short-sightedness  and  what 
shameful  failure  to  estimate  aright  relative 
values!  Moreover,  have  there  not  been  times 
when  we  failed  to  pray  for  laborers  because 
we  were  purposeless?  You  and  I  are  in  the 
habit  of  doing  the  things  that  we  definitely 
make  up  our  minds  we  will  do.  Let  it  be  re¬ 
iterated,  we  do  not  drift  into  great  achieve¬ 
ments.  Must  we  not  also  humbly  confess  that 
at  times  we  have  not  interceded  for  the  leaders 
so  greatly  needed  for  Christ’s  work,  because 
our  hearts  had  been  allowed  to  become  cold? 
yVe  had  drifted  from  our  Lord  and  His  great 
passion  of  unselfishness  had  ceased  to  beat  in 
our  breasts.  If  any  or  all  of  these  causes  are 
today  standing  in  the  way  of  our  performing 
this  most  productive  and  truly  Christ-like  min- 

[202] 


AUGMENTING  CHRISTIAN  LEADERSHIP 


istry,  let  us  highly  resolve  that,  wherever  else 
we  fail  in  the  coming  days,  we  will  not  fail  to 
follow  in  the  footprints  of  our  Lord,  the  great 
Intercessor. 


[203] 


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Date  Due 


